Category Archives: Absurdism

BOOK: “Falling Up” by Shel Silverstein

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Falling UpFalling Up by Shel Silverstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher – HarperCollins Children’s Books

This is the third and final (not inclusive of posthumous greatest hits collections) poetry collection of Shel Silverstein. The collection is considered children’s poetry and has the usual features of such (rhyming verse and doggerel, moral lessons, and occasional grossness.) The poems are generally written in a suspensive form with a twist, i.e. a punchline but aimed more at silly than humorous.

The collection bounces between whimsical and absurd and is highly entertaining to read.

The book has pencil drawings of matching tone for most of the poems.

If you like silliness and rhyming verse, this is fun read.

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PROMPT: Positive Change

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Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
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I’ve embraced the Crazy. #embracethecrazy

Squirrel Grandiosity [Lyric Poem]

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Photograph of an Eastern Gray Squirrel taken in North Georgia.
A squirrel sat straight upon a dirt mound.
   It could survey the woods for miles around.
 Holding an acorn like a microphone,
   The rodent seemed to be deep in the Zone.
 Perhaps comedy stylings or folk songs?
   But it just chewed its nut loud and long.

PROMPT: Challenges

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Daily writing prompt
What are your biggest challenges?
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Finding the humor in the collapse of Western civilization.

PROMPT: Pet Peeves

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Daily writing prompt
Name your top three pet peeves.
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In no particular order: farting on the escalator, eating rotisserie chicken during the opera, and the shouting of “fire” during a flash flood.

Tree Flight [Free Verse]

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On a hike,
    I come upon a tree
       Raised up on its roots,
       As if in mid-stride --
       A long, cartoonish stride
   That stretches across the trail.

But the tree doesn't stir -- 
   No matter how quietly I wait;
   No matter how long I wait.

Oh, how I wish to catch the tree
   As it flees.

Falling [Lyric Poem]

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The days of riches are now behind.
 I think I thought I lost my mind --
 It fell into a deep, dark hole 
   When my severed head took a roll
   Up to the lip, over the edge,
  Falling -- I took a solemn pledge:
 That my skull drop so straight and true
   To hit bottom and rip straight through
      To the other side.

“Once there came a man” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

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Once there came a man
   Who said:
 "Range me all men of the world in rows."
 And instantly
 There was a terrific clamor among the 
   people
 Against being ranged in rows.
 There was a loud quarrel, world-wide.
 It endured for ages;
 And blood was shed
 By those who would not stand in rows,
 And by those who pined to stand in rows.
 Eventually, the man went to death, weeping.
 And those who stayed in the bloody scuffle
 Knew not the great simplicity.

Mirror World [Free Verse]

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Right-side-up or upside-down?

The flooded country becomes
   a mirror world.

I spin in float
   on a coracle boat --
      mind fuzzy,
      orientation unclear.

I feel I could flip,
   and not take a dip,
      but be righted 
      upside-down,
   in the world beyond.

Ambiguous Living [Lyric Poem]

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I am not now.
   I was not then.
 That makes it sound
 Like I've never been.

But I once was
   And will be again,
 But who can know
 Just where & when?