Shel Silverstein: Two Boxes

Two boxes met upon the road,

Said one box unto the other,

"If I'm a box,

And you're a box,

Then you must be my brother.

Our sides are thin,

We're cavin' in,

And we must get no thinner."

And so two boxes, hand in hand,

Went home to have their dinner.

from his collection of poems Where the Sidewalk Ends

So I definitely knew I wanted to start this project out with Shel Silverstein, as he is one of my favorite poets and probably has had the largest impact on my life. My older sister Jess owned all three of his poem collection (Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up) along with Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back. Lafcadio is one of my three favorite stories ever because of the way my adopted brother Brian reads it, with a different voice for every character, as there are quite a few. I was the Saludictorian at my school and therefore had to give a speech, and if my speech could've been said to be about anything then it was Shel Silverstein's poem "Ations", which I chose because 1) I loved Shel Silvestein and wanted to use something from him (totally my reason for also quoting Bruce Springsteen and Ray Bradbury in that speech, no use denying it) 2) it was simple, had a graduation-y theme, and I thought it'd go over well while still almost making a point (my speech didn't really have one. I said before writing it that I just wanted to thank some people and sit down, so instead what I did was thank some people, quote some people, then sit down, because that more or less constitutes a speech. I don't like a lot of attention on me all at once, so public speaking's a nightmare). 

Shel Silverstein, in my opinion, is kind of like the Pixar of poets. You can be a kid and love the quick-shooting, marshmallow loving Lafcadio mentioned earlier or an adult pondering the identity issues it raises and what it means to be or not be part of a society, I guess. Likewise you can be a kid terrified of Lotso and wanting Woody and Buzz to save the day, or you can be a college student/parent sobbing your eyes out about the idea of childhood being over. "Two Boxes" is a simple poem that really seems to say a lot. A box is a box is a box is a box - "then you must be my brother,". And people are people are people are people. A long repetitive tautology, sure, but if I'm a person and you're a person then you must be my brother. I'm really sick of University Physics and a lot of time I don't know how to deal with people and I'm probably not really eating all that well and I simultaneously want this quarter to be over but am dreading going back to my home town- my sides are getting kind of thin. Other people have crazy M&P midterms or are working two jobs and are finding it hard to deal with people, or they're probably not sleeping well and they're probably really anxious and I don't think people have been treating them too well lately or ever- their sides can't get no thinner. But I'm a box and you're a box so you must be my brother.

I think I told somebody once that every work of fiction is about the human condition, and what do you know here I am talking about it on page one. All of us are struggling but we're getting through it together- the human condition.

I am also probably too long winded and rambling to have been responsibly given a blog page. I don't see this stopping any time before May though.