Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein was an American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books. Silverstein confirmed he never studied the poetry of others therefore, developed his own quirky style: laid-back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang.

Let me show you 3 poems by him:

Sick

'I cannot go to school today, '
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more-that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play! '


Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is mroe than one!

And then i took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-i guess he don't know
that three is mroe than two!

Just them, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And i took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
and the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then i went and showed my dad,
and he go red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head-
Too proud of me to speak!


Forgotten Language

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

I think Silverstein wrote the first 2 poems for children as it was related to them. It was about how they think, how they act. The first poem was about a child pretending to be sick and when he/she heard that it was Saturday, he/she immediately went out to play. The second poem is about the way children thinks. They thought that as long as the numbers are larger, the value is higher. This shows that he knew a lot about children or he is very close to them.

The last poem is most probably about his life when he was young. He spoke the languag of flowers and understood what caterpillars said. He may be lonely when he was young and always spent his time with nature till he spoke their language. He joined the crying of each falling dying snow flakes. This shows that he is very close to nature.

I feel that his poems are all related to his life be it young or old. I find it easy to comprehend too. I would recommend his poems to those who are weak in English.