The Devil gets his due
On the day Shel Silverstein died, I commenced to scouring the Web for every scrap of writing he'd ever done. That was the night I discovered one of my three favorite poems of all time: "The Devil and Billy Markham, Part I."Turns out old Shel, the much-loved icon of my youth, had quite a lengthy career in much more mature writing before a friend ever convinced him that children's poetry was his last chance to escape eternal poverty (and a hearty thank-you to that friend). I had the fortune that night of stumbling across a site that presented the full catalog of Silverstein's adult work, mostly published in Playboy.
Since that time, I've discovered that Silverstein is a bit more obscure than I thought. The usual response when I mention him is "Shel who?" which is just strange to me. A Light in the Attic is right up there with the Cat in the Hat for me, as far as children's literature goes.
So I was very happy to make another Silverstein discovery on the Web today: a video reading of "Billy Markham" on YouTube.
posted by Smitty @ 6:16 PM
2 Comments:
And don't forget he also penned songs for Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show!
Jessica
Yup. And Bobby Bare, as well. Possibly others.
Post a Comment
<< Home