Re: Hiding in Everland Reading Shel Silverstein and Eating Chocol

Peridot [no longer around] said Mar 8, 2008, 5:09 PM:

 

Hi!!! I found you all! Yippeeeeeeee Aley is here! I've brought some Hostess Cupcakes! The ones with the creamy white stuff in the center! MMMMMMM! Totally gross but delish!
Hey Sprite, that chocolate sounds totally good and decadent and sinful and yummmmm!



Ah, it's nice to relax here with you all! I love Shel Silverstein! I'm breathing in and out as letting this place soothe me … as, well do you mind if I rant just a little bit?

I just spent a frustrating 45 minutes making an incredible posting about a hike along the Oregon Coast … and including a trip down to Lincoln City to watch surfers from all over the world and I found the coolest site about haunted places in Oregon … and dang it! I forgot that I had everything saved in the “posting box” and used the same window to find a photo of something! EXCUSE MY FRENCH!!!! I did that the other day as well!  OH well, I'll recreate it another time!  Now, back to Shel and more chocolate!!!! mmmm! Thanks Winnie, you are so very smart! I'm done RANTING …

Now let me share my Shel poem … do you all  remember…

A Boy Named Sue
by Shel Silverstein

Well, my daddy left home when I was three,
and he didn't leave much to Ma and me,
just this old guitar and a bottle of booze.
Now I don't blame him because he run and hid,
but the meanest thing that he ever did was
before he left he went and named me Sue.

Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke,
and it got lots of laughs from a lot of folks,
it seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
and some guy would laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell you, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue.

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean.
My fist got hard and my wits got keen.
Roamed from town to town to hide my shame,
but I made me a vow to the moon and the stars,
I'd search the honky tonks and bars and kill
that man that gave me that awful name.

But it was Gatlinburg in mid July and I had
just hit town and my throat was dry.
I'd thought i'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon in a street of mud
and at a table dealing stud sat the dirty,
mangy dog that named me Sue.

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
from a worn-out picture that my mother had
and I knew the scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old
and I looked at him and my blood ran cold,
and I said, “My name is Sue. How do you do?
Now you're gonna die.” Yeah, that's what I told him.

Well, I hit him right between the eyes and he went down
but to my surprise he came up with a knife
and cut off a piece of my ear. But I busted a chair
right across his teeth. And we crashed through
the wall and into the street kicking and a-gouging
in the mud and the blood and the beer.

I tell you I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when.
He kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laughin' and then I heard him cussin',
he went for his gun and I pulled mine first.
He stood there looking at me and I saw him smile.

And he said, “Son, this world is rough and if
a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along.
So I gave you that name and I said 'Goodbye'.
I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's
that name that helped to make you strong.”

Yeah, he said, “Now you have just fought one
helluva fight, and I know you hate me and you've
got the right to kill me now and I wouldn't blame you
if you do. But you ought to thank me
before I die for the gravel in your guts and the spit
in your eye because I'm the nut that named you Sue.”
Yeah, what could I do? What could I do?

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun,
called him pa and he called me a son,
and I came away with a different point of view
and I think about him now and then.
Every time I tried, every time I win and if I
ever have a son I think I am gonna name him
Bill or George - anything but Sue.