"Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein (poetry reading)

I can imagine how much trouble this is going to bring me. So where is this place we go that children know, with a walk that is measured and slow, where the sidewalk ends? If you have a different view, then please have a polite, cogent argument that begins "In my opinion..."

Although a couple of the illustrations seem to have perspective, they are actually photographs of drawings chalked on the sidewalk.

Collage from here:
http://teachmix.com/litcast/node/322

White Bunny desktop wallpaper
http://wallpapers.net/view/white_bunny_in_grass-wide.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bastardang/3301233139/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Old photograph "Line of mourners in cemetery at Gurdjieff funeral"
http://popartmachine.com/item/pop_art/LOC+1145550

Gates of St. John's Cemetery in San Mateo:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?entry_id=49611

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Where
• the
• Sidewalk
• Ends
• Shel
• Silverstein

[yokyu2lea]

In my opinion, it´s about the path to be followed, which should be slowly till the end. In that path, we should stay true to oneself, like children. Children get to know once what is true and what is false, fiction and reality.

Now, why should it bring you in trouble?

[SpokenVerse]

@yokyu2lea It already has. That's what some YouTubers do for fun.

[liz1060]

In my opinion, Mr. S had a free range phrase floating about in his brain, so he cobbled it into a piece with some dreamy abstractions that fit his rhyme and meter and it means Mr. S was crafty like that.

[borncountryful]

In my opinion.. So many children are playing on sidewalks & long for trees, ponds, soft green grass, The sidewalk ends in their imagination. Most beloved poem, Thank you.

[ZechsMerquise73]

My family personally knew Shel Silverstien. Its always nice to see his work being recognized. I was too young to have remembered him, and I think knowing him might have been whats needed to understand where the sidewalk ends. Thinking on the poem, there is very little detail about where the sidewalk ends; the poem is more concerned about where the place is not. I'd say its his happy place, the place where hes free from the nonsense of everyday life.

[TheSatellitesister]

I'm so sorry for Shel's passing, I wasn't aware until now. Nothing could be sadder than when a poet passes. Especailly a children's poet who so many of us adored and remember. It is the children who indeed know where the sidewalk ends... Shel for children was like their safe sidewalk and when the death of a beloved trusted friend ended, so too did their sidewalk. Peace Shel. Thank you for holding our hands through happy moments.

[NMMojavePoet]

Thank you Tom for reading this piece. It was one of my favorites as a young person.

[MrBillgreaves]

It seems to me simple enough . . .a suggestion that we drop all our adult stresses and learn to relive the joys and simple pleasures of our formative years . Read brilliantly as only you can !

[PhilosopherFresh]

Super awesome man, love it! What a great voice!

Check out the video I made to this amazing poem, I think you'll like it! :o)

[paulpellicci]

wow...the grave yard? guess so...

[masercot]

Silverstein must've read a lot of Edward Lear...

[duckpondwithoutducks]

I had read and like this poem before, but never really thought seriously about the place where the sidewalk ends. Your interpretation certainly makes sense!