Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2024

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, award-winning children’s writer, and actor, Shel Silverstein grew up in Chicago. He started out as a cartoonist before turning to children’s books. Silverstein is the author and illustrator of numerous books, including The Giving Tree (1964), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974), A Light in the Attic (1981), and Falling Up (1996). His books have been commended for their appeal to both adults and children.

Silverstein’s poems are often darkly humorous, irreverent, and populated with invented characters, such as the “Bloath” in Where the Sidewalk Ends, who dwells “[i]n the undergrowth” and “feeds upon poets and tea.” Silverstein’s poems and stories are accompanied by his simple yet energetic pen-and-ink illustrations. The Giving Tree, a fable about a lifelong relationship between a boy and a tree, has become a classic in the canon of children’s literature and has sold over five million copies.

-bio via Poetry Foundation

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Tuesday, January 9th, 2004. Today's poem goes out to all of those kids who recently had to say goodbye to their Christmas break and head back to school. It's by Shell Silverstein, and it's called Where the Sidewalk Ends.
0:22.6	I'll read it once, offer a few comments and then read it one more time.
0:26.6	Where the sidewalk ends.
0:31.6	There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins.
0:38.3	There the grass grows soft and white, and there the sun burns crimson bright,
0:44.3	and there the moonbird rests from his flight to cool in the peppermint wind.
0:49.3	Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black, and the dark street winds and bends.
0:55.7	Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow, we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
1:02.7	and watch where the chalk white arrows go to the place where the sidewalk ends.
1:08.7	Yes, we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, and we'll go where
1:12.7	the chalk-white arrows go. For the children they mark, and the children they know the place
1:19.0	where the sidewalk ends.
1:42.2	Shell Silverstein, born 1930, died 1999, is probably best known as a whimsical children's poet.
1:52.5	Although he was a bit of an odd fellow and had other interests and accomplishments to his name.
2:01.3	In fact, his best-known poem is usually not associated with him.
2:07.4	And that is because Shel Silverstein wrote the song,
2:14.8	a boy named Sue, made famous by Johnny Cash in the 60s,
2:22.8	which actually peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 chart.
2:32.9	But he also left behind a number of well-beloved children's works, including the collection of poetry that shares a title with this poem,
2:37.2	where the sidewalk ends, not to be confused with the George Strait song of the same name,
2:43.0	in case there are anybody out there who might have made that mistake.
2:47.6	This is an unassuming poem that catches you off guard as you begin to listen carefully to it.
	...

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