Faking the Sickness

Sick by Shel Silverstein

"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!"

The “story” or idea of this poem is pretty simple. A kid doesn’t want to go to school, so he pretends that he is sick. I love how Shel Silverstein puts creative and wacky expressions to describe how many ways you can get sick. I notice how the poem builds up into a transition, like you hear a girl groaning in pain. But then you here her say, what? It’s Saturday? So the voice and tone of the poem changes erratically. I also noticed how the poem starts off with Peggy Ann having a soar throat, and then comparing what she says at the end, I have a hole in my inside my ear. I also noticed interesting metaphors, like my brain is shrunk and my belly is carving in. I don’t know how, but Shel Silverstein must have a ton of creative ways for metaphors and descriptions. The reason why I find it so original is because the phrase isn’t so predictable.

         I find the rhyming simple in this poem, but has a very smooth rhythm. Reading it felt more like I was reading lyrics, and that’s not bad at all. So the poem is basically has an A + B pattern. Like Mumps, Bumps, Eye, Dry. I find the rhythm smooth because each segment or line have an equal amount of syllables. For example, “My tongue is filling up my mouth” and “I think my hair is falling out”. If I played a metronome throughout the whole poem, it would not sound choppy.

         Shel Silverstein has many creative ways to describe expressions and phrases, and I find most of it fairly original. That’s why Silverstein’s work is fresh, and his literature actually has the capability to get kids excited about his poems. It is also why I picked, “Sick”, because kids relate to it heavily. Waking up in the morning for kids is a bummer because, what makes you think we feel like getting up to go to school. It’s like a “Today’s another day”, moment. But the positive issue with Silverstein’s work is that we can take this example of lazy kids who don’t want to go to school, and socially, put it in a healthy manner, and have a sense of humor about it. The poem “Sick” is my main reason why I admire Shel Silverstein’s literature.