Shel Silverstein

I read "the giving tree" to my niece last night, this being one of my all-time favorite books ever. this man was so amazing and talented with all of his stories, poems and illustrations. to this day reading his books still bring a smile to my face.

shel silverstein rocks so hard.

just showing a little appreciation to someone in my opion is one of the greatest authors ever!

Shel's the man.

Go here. My favorite is Uncle Shelby's ABZ book from Playboy.

Ah, Uncle Shelby!

I love his "grown up" stuff the best, I think. Not to diminish his skill at writing for kids, but as twisted as that stuff is, his stuff for adults is even twisted...er. Yes, twisteder. Hush.

I haven't heard all of his songs, but "I Got Stoned and I Missed It" is a must-hear for all you stoners out there. Reminds me of my friends and I rushing to a concert with a thick cloud hanging around us. We haven't missed anything yet, but damn, do we come close.

I told a friend of mine -- maybe ten years older than me, give or take -- that Silverstein used to write and draw for Playboy and she just would not hear of it. Couldn't believe it. Refused to believe it. It was so funny.

But that page bravelittletoaster (awesome nick, by the way!) linked to is right when it says that just calling him a children's writer is a huge disservice. I was at a party earlier this year, and one of my friends had his young sons with him. The hostess had a copy of Uncle Shelby's ABZ book, and my friend decided to let his son, who's maybe 8, I guess, read it. I had to point out that it's not exactly a book for kids. So he told his son: "Okay. You can read this, but you're not allowed to ask me what any of it means." Ah, Uncle Shelby...

where the sidewalk ends
the one about the girl that ate a whale and drats where to of my favorite poems

lafcadio - the lion who shot back.

maxx knows of the goodness.

i LOVE shel sliverstein!!!!

i was so bummed when he died

i have both the books, and the audo cd's [all poems are read by shel] of where the sidewalk ends, and a light in the attic.

They have this book at Barnes and Noble called "THe Secret Art of Shel Silverstein" and it's got all these great paintings he did of different characters and stuff

crazy good shit, check it out

"The Giving Tree" is one of my all time favorite books.

shel silverstien is a GOD

In the laid back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcake, you prob’ly knew her well.
She’d been stoned fifteen of her eighteen years and the story was widely told
That she could smoke 'em faster than anyone could roll.
Her legend finally reached New York, that Grove Street walk-up flat
Where dwelt The Calistoga Kid, a beatnik from the past
With long browned lightnin’ fingers he takes a cultured toke
And says, “Hell, I can roll ‘em faster, Jim, than any chick can smoke!”

So a note gets sent to San Rafael, “For the Championship of the World
The Kid demands a smoke off!” "Well, bring him on!" says Pearl,
"I'll grind his fingers off his hands, he'll roll until he drops!"
Says Calistog, "I'll smoke that twist till she blows up and pops!”
So they rent out Yankee Stadium and the word is quickly spread
"Come one, come all, who walk or crawl, price – just two lids a head
And from every town and hamlet, over land and sea they speed
The world's greatest dopers, with the Worlds greatest weed
Hashishers from Morocco, hemp smokers from Peru
And the Shamnicks from Bagun who puff the deadly Pugaroo
And those who call it Light of Life and those that call it boo.

See the dealers and their ladies wearing turquoise, lace, and leather
See the narcos and the closet smokers puffin’ all together
From the teenies who smoke legal to the ones who've done some time
To the old man who smoked “reefer” back before it was a crime
And the grand old house that Ruth built is filled with the smoke and cries
Of fifty thousand screaming heads all stoned out of their minds.
And they play the national anthem and the crowd lets out a roar
As the spotlight hits The Kid and Pearl, ready for their smokin' war
At a table piled up high with grass, as high as a mountain peak
Just tops and buds of the rarest flowers, not one stem, branch or seed.

Maui Wowie, Panama Red and Acapulco Gold.
Kif from East Afghanistan and rare Alaskan Cold.
Sticks from Thailand, Ganja from the Islands, and Bangkok's Bloomin' Best.
And some of that wet imported shit that capsized off Key West.
Oaxacan tops and Kenya Bhang and Riviera Fleurs.
And that rare Manhatten Silver that grows down in the New York sewers.
And there's bubblin’ ice cold lemonade and sweet grapes by the bunches.
And there's Hershey’s bars, and Oreos, ‘case anybody gets the munchies.
And the Calistoga Kid, he sneers, and Pearly, she just grins.
And the drums roll low and the crowd yells “GO!” and the world’s first Smoke Off begins.

Kid flicks his magic fingers once and ZAP! that first joint’s rolled.
Pearl takes one drag with her mighty lungs and WOOSH! that roach is cold.
Then The Kid he rolls his Super Bomb that’d paralyze a moose.
And Pearley takes one super hit and SLURP! that bomb’ defused.
Then he rolls three in just ten seconds and she smokes 'em up in nine,
And everybody sits back and says, "This just might take some time."
See the blur of flyin’ fingers, see the red coal burnin’ bright
As the night turns into mornin’ and the mornin’ fades to night
And the autumn turns to summer and a whole damn year is gone
But the two still sit on that roach-filled stage, smokin' and rollin' on
With tremblin’ hands he rolls his jays with fingers blue and stiff
She coughs and stares with bloodshot gaze, and puffs through blistered lips.
And as she reaches out her hand for another stick of gold
The Kid he gasps, "Goddamn it, bitch, there's nothin' left to roll!"
"Nothin’ left to roll?", screams Pearl, "Is this some twisted joke?”
“I didn't come here to fuck around, man, I come here to SMOKE!"
And she reaches 'cross the table And grabs his bony sleeves
And she crumbles his body between her hands like dried and brittle leaves
Flickin' out his teeth and bones like useless stems and seeds
And then she rolls him in a Zig Zag and lights him like a roach.
And the fastest man with the fastest hands goes up in a puff of smoke.

In the laid-back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lives a girl named Pearly Sweetcake, you prob’ly know her well.
She’s been stoned twenty-one of her twenty-four years, and the story’s widely told.
How she still can smoke them faster than anyone can roll
While off in New York City on a street that has no name.
There's the hands of the Calistoga Kid in the Viper Hall of Fame
And underneath his fingers there's a little golden scroll
That says, Beware of Bein’ the Roller When There's Nothin’ Left to Roll.

My roomate has a giving tree tattoo! This wouldn't be a big deal but it's his only tattoo and it's on his arm. He wins.

i was fucking raised on his books.

he was second only to the almighty dr seuss.

[Edited on Dec 26, 2002 by catboner]

Shel also wrote "A boy named Sue" that Johny Cash sang. Great tune.

i didn't know that.

glad i could help.

I love Shel! I read a few of his poems from "Where the Sidewalk Ends" a a Banned Book reading in college.

My favorite is 'Where The Sidewalk Ends' and i plan on getting the line 'drippy ends of ice cream cones' from the poem Sarah Cynthia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out, tattooed somewhere on me.
This book kind of has a special place for me, i mean i own all of his others and i love them too, but this was my deceased aunts fave book and after she died (two weeks before her 21st birthday and 6 days before x-mas) i would go and visit my grandparents and read the poems from this book OVER and OVER again. Just to feel close to her, since i don't remember her at all. Now when i am in a bad mood i will pull all the books out and just randomly pick pages and laugh at how many i remember and have memorized.

you didn't read his stuff until college? i think i was aware of shel before i even knew how to read, then by age 7 it was all i read.

here's a great youtube video...

Also "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show and "The Unicorn Song" by the Irish Rovers.

Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of my favorite books as a kid

I loved The Missing Piece. I have all the books.