Friday, June 19, 2009

Something Ate the Broccoli (An Homage to Shel Silverstein)

Something ate the broccoli.
It’s rather sad to say.
Something ate the broccoli.
It started in mid-May.
We’ll never see her flowery head
Emerging from the compost bed.
I want those bugs not gone - but dead.
Something ate my broccoli.
Something ate the broccoli
Every single leaf.
They didn’t touch the soybeans,
I guess they weren’t so sweet.


We’ll never have it tossed into
A pasta salad or hearty stew .
They got zucchini blossoms, too.
Something ate the broccoli.

Something ate the broccoli.
It is absolutely clear
Something ate the broccoli
I’ll catch those slugs with beer!
It was a heartless thing to do
They leave a trail of sticky glue.
I simply can’t imagine who
Would go and (swat!) eat the broccoli.













The above poem was adapted from Shel Silverstein’s “Someone Ate the Baby." I assumed the poem could be found in either A Light in the Attic or Where the Sidewalk Ends, but it's not included in either book. That means I probably heard it on the radio. Did you ever listen to the Dr. Demento Show? Here’s a clip from the show featuring Shel himself reading the poem.


9 comments:

tina said...

This is too funny! You are most creative. I listened to the clip. I've never heard him before but somewhere in the files of my mind I've heard of someone ate the baby. Like your version so much better!

Joanne said...

Oh no! Does that trick with the beer for the slugs really work? I often see that mentioned. Wishing you many healthy crops on this weekend of the Summer Solstice! Happy summer to you and your garden :)

Lzyjo said...

I'm so sorry for your broccoli! I remember reading Where the sidewalk ends when I was a kid, I only remember because of those wacky illustrations! What a great poem! I hate broccoli eaters and cabbage worms!

Coffee Messiah said...

Nice shots and you can never go wrong reading/listening to SS ; )

Ewa said...

Wish you many healthy crops. For me and slugs only picking them works - last weekend collected abt 4 kgs of them.

Skeeter said...

I have not thought about Dr. Demento in years! That always got a chuckle from us... Sorry for your loss of the broccoli but trying to always look on the bright side of life, your loss gave us quit a post today! :-)

Rose said...

Love it, love it! I saw your post listed on Tina's sidebar and had to come visit--I gave up growing broccoli years ago because it would always be covered with these tiny little worms that had to be picked off by hand, ugh:( But I love poem parodies and occasionally attempt one myself; yours is terrific--thanks for the chuckle this morning.

Brigit said...

I've never heard of Shel Silverstein, but boy, I recognise that voice. Hmm. I'm never quite sure how to best deal with slugs and snails. Don't like using pellets having a dog who may get into them. What do you use?

Anonymous said...

I let MrD hear Someone Ate The Baby and he thought it so cruel. He just didn't get it. Loved your rendition. Poor broccoli. Poor you. Poor slug.