The poem I chose is called where the sidewalk ends and its about a sidewalk where there are two ends, one of them is all polluted and has smoke everywhere, and the other end has birds, grass, and a bright red sun. There are people on the polluted side who are trying to get to the other side and children are drawing arrows out of chalk pointing towards the other side. The further you walk, your surroundings become more alive. 

What is the message of this poem?

The message of this poem is that some parts of this world can be bad, and other parts can be good. By bad I mean polluted and by good I mean clean.

“Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

and the dark street winds and bends.”

-Shel Silverstein

Why this quote? It tells us that the side these people are on is the polluted side, and they want to leave it. This ties into some parts of the world being bad and some being good. There is probably lots of fire and stuff cause the smoke is black. Polluted air is bad to inhale and can damage your lungs, mostly the smoke though. They want to leave this side because of that.

“Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

and we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

for the children, they mark, and the children, they know,

the place where the sidewalk ends.”

-Shel Silverstein

What does this quote mean? It’s saying that the arrows are pointing towards the other side, and the children know where it is and are guiding people by drawing arrows on the sidewalk. The walk is a long walk as they say the walk is measured and slow.

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends

and before the street begins,

and there the grass grows soft and white,

and there the sun burns crimson bright,

and there the moon-bird rests from his flight

to cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

and the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow

and watch where the chalk-white arrows go

to the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

and we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

for the children, they mark, and the children, they know,

the place where the sidewalk ends.”

-Shel Silverstein

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