Funny Poem Week: Day One (Shel Silverstein)

For the next five days, I have decided to devote the content of this poetry blog to the genre of "funny poems." Everyone is in full-on exam study mode and I figured that you could use something light. It's a sort of mental palate cleansing or temporary respite from big ideas. As you are filling your brains with must-know facts, these poems are an easy escape and require no effort to appreciate.

Quite often, a young child's first introduction to poetry is Shel Silverstein. This well-known author of The Giving Tree and collections of poetry like Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic helps to make language fun and accessible to both young people and adults. I remember doing a dramatic reading/depiction of "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout" when I was in high school. We went to an orphanage and entertained the kids with this funny tale of a stubborn girl refusing to take out the garbage. The kids laughed and laughed. My daughter, Lucy, performed a Shel Silverstein poem, "The Homework Machine," for the GFS lower school poetry contest and won best in her grade that year (2nd grade, I think?). (Yes, I am a proud, bragging mom!)

 I love the poem below that's not quite so ha-ha funny but embraces the messy, wild fabulousness that comes from being a child. I'm not too old for these poems and neither are you!!

Dirty Face by Shel Silverstein

Where did you get such a dirty face,

My darling dirty-faced child?

 

I got it from crawling along in the dirt

And biting two buttons off Jeremy’s shirt.

I got it from chewing the roots of a rose

And digging for clams in the yard with my nose.

I got it from peeking into a dark cave

And painting myself like a Navajo brave.

I got it from playing with coal in the bin

And signing my name in cement with my chin.

I got it from rolling around on the rug

And giving the horrible dog a big hug.

I got it from finding a lost silver mine

And eating sweet blackberries right off the vine.

I got it from ice cream and wrestling and tears

And from having more fun than you’ve had in years.