Shel Silverstein

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Mrs. Mann's Poetry Corner

Introduction: This is a wonderful poem about the colors of people. It would be a great addition to a unit on the similarities and differences of people.

Colors

My skin is kind of sort of brownish
Pinkish yellowish white.
My eyes are greyish blueish green.
But I'm told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown.
But it's silver when it's wet.
And all the colors I am inside
Have not been invented yet.


from "Where the Sidewalk Ends"
by Shel Silverstein
(HarperCollins Publishers, 1974)


Extension: After reading this poem, have students create a picture of themselves using the colors of them. It is an amazing disovery for many students to find that people are not white or black, but rather various shades of brown.