#Shel Silverstein

[aclaywrites]

Shel Silverstein for Playboy, 1965

[apoemaday]

Batty

by Shel Silverstein

The baby bat screamed out in fright, "Turn on the dark, I'm afraid of the light."

[durbikins]

[melodiousmonk]

Ethan Hawke asks, "Why does masculine energy so often manifest itself as idiocy? Why is male sensitivity so often linked with perceived weakness? How does one be, as Johnny Cash said; ‘a dove with claws?'"

Kris Kristofferson takes a long beat, then says, “Yeah, that used to piss Shel Silverstein off.”

“What did?” Ethan asks.

“That whole ‘dove with claws’ thing. He just thought, ‘What the hell is that?'”

“Why do you think Cash said it?”

“I think he was feeling the very thing that you’re talking about – that if people think you are against the war, that in some way you’re a pussy.”

“Your first recorded song was a pro-Vietnam War song, right?”

“Yeah, I wrote it when I was in the Army on my way to Nashville, and I came upon a protest march. I had a lot of friends over there; and I was thinking we were fighting for freedom. And I wasn’t thinking very deeply.”

“Why did you end up changing your mind about that war?”

“I was flying helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico on one of those offshore oil rigs, and I was talking to some guys coming home. The stories they were telling me were so horrible that I think it just shocked me enough to change my thinking 180 degrees. I’m talking about things like this young vet telling me about taking people up in a helicopter and interrogating them and if they didn’t say what they were supposed to, they’d throw them out, stomping on the fingers of the prisoner holding on to the skids, you know? The guy telling me this particular story was still just a green kid when he returned from the war. The notion that you could make a young person do something so inhuman to another soldier – or even worse, a civilian – convinced me that we were in the wrong. I hadn’t been thinking in human terms of what that military action was.” He pauses, stroking my dog. “I agree with you totally about all the conditioning that makes us want to feel masculine and tough. I mean, I’m sure that’s why I went to Ranger School and Jump School. And I’m proud of that Ranger tab – still am. But the notion of bombing a defenseless country that’s never threatened us and the fact we all accepted it and said, That’s politics!’ Damn. I’m not really interested in polities. We’ve come to a place that I never dreamed and I know my father never dreamed that America would get to.

"That’s why Shel didn’t like that ‘dove with claws’ thing,” Kris goes on.

“Johnny Cash should have just said he was a dove and proud of it?”

“Exactly. ‘Cause people would have accepted anything from John,” says Kris. “We knew he was a man. I don’t really think anybody would have called Johnny Cash a pussy. But John was conditioned, just like you and me. You really have to get past all of that — where you have enough feeling about what’s right and wrong in the world to not give a shit about what kind of names anybody throws at you.

[Source - Rolling Stone Magazine]

[quotemadness]

I can be someone’s and still be my own.

Shel Silverstein

[dabiconcordia]

“Magic Sandra’s seen a leprechaun, Eddie touched a troll, Laurie danced with witches once, Charlie found some goblins gold. Donald heard a mermaid sing, Susy spied an elf, But all the magic I have known I've had to make myself.” ― Shel Silverstein 

[poetassignment]

Shel Silverstein

[bnmxfld]

I can be someone's and still be my own.

Shel Silverstein / The Missing Piece

[tilbageidanmark]

”Well, that was a total waste of time”

[loveisthemostimportantthingever]

[its-blorbin-time]

hannibal inspired poem for my style imitation assignment in my creative writing class based off Shel Silverstein

[apoemaday]

Blue

by Shel Silverstein

She had blue skin, And so did he. He kept it hid And so did she. They searched for blue Their whole life through, Then passed right by -- And never knew.

[andrewisdoing]

[adventuresofalgy]

Whatever will the weather birds think of next?!

Algy could hardly believe his eyes when he woke the next morning, for the sun was shining, and brightly at that! He had slept so very soundly, soothed by the great oak's lullaby, that by the time he was fully awake it was broad daylight, which at this time of year in the wild west Highlands of Scotland meant that the morning was already well advanced, and the sun was about as high in the sky as it was likely to get before it sank down to rest again.

Peering up at the magnificent old tree towering above him, Algy marvelled, not only at the unexpected sunlight that had brought a burst of beautiful colour back to the world, but also at the rich growth of bright green mosses and ferns which clothed the great trunks of the hospitable tree and were positively glowing in the unexpected light.

It was a braw day for an adventure, and Algy was keen to be up and on his way at last, but he was loath to leave the great oak, so he paused for a few moments longer. As he craned his neck back to gaze up high into its branches, Algy wondered just how old the tree might be, for it had certainly seen many, many winters before this one, and although he was not really small compared with many other fluffy birds, he felt positively dwarfed by the massive oak, and understood just how the rosebush must have felt, in Mr. Silverstein's poem:

An oak tree and a rosebush grew, Young and green together, Talking the talk of growing things– Wind and water and weather. And while the rosebush sweetly bloomed The oak tree grew so high That now it spoke of newer things– Eagles, mountain peaks and sky. "I guess you think you're pretty great," The rose was heard to cry, Screaming as loud as it possibly could To the treetop in the sky. "And now you have no time for flower talk, Now that you've grown so tall." "It's not so much that I've grown," said the tree, "It's just that you've stayed so small."

[Algy is quoting the poem The Oak and the Rose by the 20th century American writer Shel Silverstein.]

[movietonight]

Imagine Hawkeye reading the comics in Stars and Stripes to distract himself from the Horrors and seeing that one

[the-summer-sun-au]

The Giving Tree Poem

by Shel Silverstein

Once there was a tree....

and she loved a little boy.

And everyday the boy would come

and he would gather her leaves

and make them into crowns

and play king of the forest.

He would climb up her trunk

and swing from her branches

and eat apples.

And they would play hide-and-go-seek.

And when he was tired,

he would sleep in her shade.

And the boy loved the tree....

very much.

And the tree was happy.

But time went by.

And the boy grew older.

And the tree was often alone.

Then one day the boy came to the tree

and the tree said, 'Come, Boy, come and

climb up my trunk and swing from my

branches and eat apples and play in my

shade and be happy.'

'I am too big to climb and play' said

the boy.

'I want to buy things and have fun.

I want some money?'

'I'm sorry,' said the tree, 'but I

have no money.

I have only leaves and apples.

Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in

the city. Then you will have money and

you will be happy.'

And so the boy climbed up the

tree and gathered her apples

and carried them away.

And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time....

and the tree was sad.

And then one day the boy came back

and the tree shook with joy

and she said, 'Come, Boy, climb up my trunk

and swing from my branches and be happy.'

'I am too busy to climb trees,' said the boy.

'I want a house to keep me warm,' he said.

'I want a wife and I want children,

and so I need a house.

Can you give me a house ?'

' I have no house,' said the tree.

'The forest is my house,

but you may cut off

my branches and build a

house. Then you will be happy.'

And so the boy cut off her branches

and carried them away

to build his house.

And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time.

And when he came back,

the tree was so happy

she could hardly speak.

'Come, Boy,' she whispered,

'come and play.'

'I am too old and sad to play,'

said the boy.

'I want a boat that will

take me far away from here.

Can you give me a boat?'

'Cut down my trunk

and make a boat,' said the tree.

'Then you can sail away...

and be happy.'

And so the boy cut down her trunk

and made a boat and sailed away.

And the tree was happy

... but not really.

And after a long time

the boy came back again.

'I am sorry, Boy,'

said the tree,' but I have nothing

left to give you -

My apples are gone.'

'My teeth are too weak

for apples,' said the boy.

'My branches are gone,'

said the tree. ' You

cannot swing on them - '

'I am too old to swing

on branches,' said the boy.

'My trunk is gone, ' said the tree.

'You cannot climb - '

'I am too tired to climb' said the boy.

'I am sorry,' sighed the tree.

'I wish that I could give you something....

but I have nothing left.

I am just an old stump.

I am sorry....'

'I don't need very much now,' said the boy.

'just a quiet place to sit and rest.

I am very tired.'

'Well,' said the tree, straightening

herself up as much as she could,

'well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting

Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest.'

And the boy did.

And the tree was happy.

Shel Silverstein