As I often find after being surprised, I am reminded that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. While my narrow view of Shel Silverstein was as a poet, he was also a prolific illustrator and songwriter as well.
Last night I found myself picking through the NPR archives online and ran across a recent feature they produced, it detailed the release of a musical tribute album featuring the music of Shel Silverstein. One of Silverstein’s closest friends, Bobby Bare Sr. and his son, Bobby Bare Jr. produced the compilation of songs written by Silverstein; it features such artists as Frank Black (Pixies), Lucinda Williams, My Morning Jacket and Todd Snider. I was surprised to learn that the poet I had grown up reading had written such classic songs as A Boy Named Sue, The Cover of the Rolling Stone, and The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
It was inevitable, every year in school I would be dragged through lessons on haiku and sonnets. And every year we were expected to choose a poem to study and eventually memorize. It was a nightmare for a fifth grader – a blend of the two things that kept me up at night, public speaking and poetry.
I suspect there were other kids who felt as I did about poetry. We were typically the ones who memorized a Shel Silverstein poem. I’m certainly not saying that Shel Silverstein wasn’t a legitimate poet, but he was viewed very differently by this fifth grader. When I read his poetry, with or without his ink drawings, his words came to life. I could begin to visualize the world that he was creating. No other poet has done that for me since first reading “The Giving Tree” and “Where the Sidewalk Ends”.
As I often find after being surprised, I am reminded that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. While my narrow view of Shel Silverstein was as a poet, he was also a prolific illustrator and songwriter as well.
I’ve found that as adults we get set in our ways, and our view of the world can become very focused. A narrow view prevents you from seeing all the options and what may be right around the corner.
I’m taking this experience as a reminder that I need to pull back the blinders that I have created in my life, dust off the old Shel Silverstein books of poetry, and even explore other poets who may broaden my view.
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My good friend, Steve Morley, recently wrote a review of the Shel Silverstein tribute album, "Twistable, Turnable Man" for "Country Weekly" magazine, http://www.countryweekly.com/shel_silverstein_tri.... I appreciate his insight and perspective.