Thoughts on poems: Invitation

Written By Abril Warner

The cover of my childhood copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Sliverstein. | Photo by Abril Warner.

Invitation

by Shel Silverstein

(from Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein, Harper and Row, Snake Eye Music, Inc. 1974, p. 9)

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
…

I hope you seek out the whole poem (Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein, 1974). What a lovely invocation and invitation! I have always felt this poem spoke to the creative in me.

On a grander personal scale, this book is my earliest memory of a collection of poems that belonged to me. It is in surprisingly great condition for my lack of care and many re-readings.

Abril Warner

Abril P. Warner was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She received her BFA from the University of Missouri- St. Louis with a concentration in painting with theological and metaphysical content. Abril Warner earned her MFA in painting from the Academy of Art University – San Francisco where she continued her theological examination through painting. She uses abstraction as a tool for communicating the intangible, such as emotions and spirituality. Warner currently resides in Missouri where she is an art educator and mentor in higher education.

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