Re: Homework, O' Homework!

[Cheryl Bybee <cbybee@TENET.EDU>]

On 3 Jun 1996, Allison G Kaplan wrote:
> Group,
> I'm responding to the whole list because I've got a problem with the
> authorship of this poem.  Glen asks for "Homework! Oh, Homework!" by Shel
> Silverstein. An attribution I've seen before. The problem is that I have a >
> copy of that poem in a book of poems by Jack Prelutsky. I've copied it
> below just to be sure we're talking about the same poem. Have these
> creative men each written about the same topic?  (Not unheard of to be
> sure but should we be more careful about our citations?). So what do
> you all think?

Allison...

Or maybe he just had the title wrong.  Shel Silverstein DID write a poem
called "Homework Machine." It can be found in _A Light in the Attic_.


                        Homework Machine

The Homework Machine, oh the Homework Machine,
Most perfect contraption that's ever been seen.
Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime,
Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds' time,
Your homework comes out, quick and clean as can be.
Here it is--"nine plus four?" and the answer is "three."
Three?
Oh me . . .
I guess it's not as perfect
As I thought it would be.

Cheryl :-)

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        Cheryl Bybee, Director of Library Services -- Northside ISD
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