awake(Such an awful boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
('Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor
Maybe they won't let you
Dry the dishes anymore
- How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes by Shel Silverstein
I selected this poem in honor of Banned Books Week.
In 1985, Silverstein's poetry collection A Light in the Attic was challenged at the Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wisconsin because the aforementioned poem "encourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." I think that if children or adults feel the need to break dishes after reading that poem, they ought to read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books by Patricia McDonald and/or attend a wedding ceremony at which breaking dishes is a tradition.
