Shel silverstein

Shel Silverstein began writing when he was twelve years old. He would have preferred to be playing ball with children his age, but he had no athletic ability. Also, girls showed no interest in him, so he began to write. He was not familiar with the style of any famous poets. Since he had no one whom he could mimic, he began developing his own technique. In the 1950's, Silverstein enlisted in the armed forces and served in the Korean War. During his time in the military, Shel Silverstein worked as a cartoonist for "Pacific Stars and Stripes," a Pacific-based U.S. military publication. After completing his military duty, he was hired as a staff cartoonist for "Playboy" in 1956. Silverstein contributed several poems including "The Winner," "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe," and "The Smoke-off" (see links below to read some of these) and wrote the books "Playboy's Teevee Jeebies" and "More Playboy's Teevee Jeebies: Do-It-Yourself Dialogue for the Late Late Show." In 1963, at the suggestion of fellow illustrator Tomi Ungerer, he was introduced to Ursula Nordstrom who convinced him to begin writing for children.

Falling up

I triped on my shoelace
And I fell up-
Up to the roof tops
Up past the tree tops
Up over the mountains
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down