What does the poem "Falling Up" mean?

Using his poetic prowess and literary devices, Shel Silverstein takes his writing about common occurrences and turns them into flights of fancy. “Falling Up” is the title poem of the book by the same name.

In the poem “Falling Up,” Silverstein makes the childhood experience of tripping over an untied shoelace into a humorous adventure as he questions the use of common phrases.

Many children hear, “You are going to trip and fall down if you do not tie those shoelaces.” When the child in the poem falls on his untied lace, he takes a “trip” as he “falls up.” Silverstein uses a play on words at the outset to let the reader know the child will have an uncommon experience.

I tripped on my shoelace

And I fell up—

By repeating the word “up” at the beginning of the next five lines, the author is giving the reader an image of the child rising higher and higher. High above the town, the traveler is so high that everything below is a blur of colors and he becomes dizzy.

Silverstein uses a bit of enjambment as the child transitions to a height where things mix together as do the lines of poem.

Up where the colors

Blend into the sounds.

At the pinnacle of height, the child feels sick but instead of “throwing up,” he is so high above everything, he “throws down.” Again, Silverstein uses a play on words to create imagery, which seems to make sense.

When I looked around,

I got sick to my stomach

And I threw down

The poem means that words and phrases are not always to be taken literally, and with a bit of imagination, they can be fun.