Poems with Lois Letchford: Shel Silverstein - Furniture Bash

10 Oct 2020 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

In this YouTube segment, Lois Letchford—author of Reversed: A Memoir and a literacy advocate—reads Shel Silverstein’s whimsical poem “Furniture Bash” from the collection Falling Up. The poem narrates a chaotic chain reaction among pieces of furniture, describing how a clock’s hand pinches a bed’s foot, which then kicks a chair, and so on, culminating in a noisy, destructive “furniture fight” that leaves sawdust, springs, and a broken dresser drawer. Letchford delivers the verses with a lively, storytelling tone, emphasizing the absurdity and humor of the imagined furniture battle, and concludes with a playful affirmation that the chaos is “the truth, no lie, no joke.”

Chapters

Hello, Lois Letchford, author of the book Reversed: A Memoir and literacy problem solver, reading from Shel Silverstein's Falling Up. And today, one of my favourites, Furniture Bash. The hand of the clock pinched the foot of the bed, so the foot of the bed kicked the seat of the chair, so the seat of the chair sat on the head of the table, so the head of the table bit the leg of the desk, So the leg of the desk bumped the arm of the couch. So the arm of the couch slapped the face of the clock. And they pinched and they punched and they banged and they knocked. And they ripped and they flipped and they rolled and they rocked. And the poor dresser drawer got a couple of socks. There was sawdust and springs when I turned on the light after that horrible furniture fight. And that's the truth. No lie. No joke. That's how the furniture all got broke. Enjoy!