105 Ways to Give a Book

Poetry Friday: Dr. Seuss Style

It’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday and it’s Poetry Friday, so that’s cool. A Wrung Sponge is collecting your favorite lines from Dr. Seuss, with bonus points for those done off the top of your head. I did have to peek, because I needed to make sure I had it exactly right. I added the last few lines of the beginning of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.
All that deep,
Deep, deep snow,
All that snow had to go.
When our mother went
Down to the town for the day,
She said, “Somebody has to
Clean all this away.
Somebody, SOMEBODY
Has to, you see.”
Then she picked out two Somebodies.
Sally and me.
My mother used those last lines a lot whenever she was assigning my brother and me chores. I still think of it often. It particularly fits today as it is a lovely sixty degrees and the last bits of snow are indeed going.

Last year I wrote an Ode to Seuss, and I’m going to copy it in here again. First of all, it’s perfect for the merging of Poetry Friday and Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and secondly, I have more readers now who may not have seen it. Oh, and it’s a work of art, I tell you.
Ode to Seuss

The sun did not shine
It was too wet to play.
So I sat by the computer
All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat with my blog.
We sat there, just deuce.
And I said, “How I wish
I could rip off Dr. Seuss.”

Then I looked up,
And saw him step in on the mat!
I looked up. I saw him!
The Cat in the Hat!

(Or it could have all been
in my head, not a fact.
I’d taken two Advil
And at least four Prozac.)

The Cat said,“Now why
Do you sit there so gloomy?
Your house looks quite clean
Your playroom quite roomy.”

I said, “It’s my blog,
I need something to write.
I can find no inspiration
At least not by tonight.”

“Inspiration, you want.”
(sounding kind of like Yoda)
“Open your eyes,” he said,
“And get me a soda.”

“All that you’re looking for
Is here on this shelf.
You don’t need any more,
You can get it yourself.”

And then all the titles
Popped right out at me
With a surreal neon glimmer.
(Note: Avoid LSD.)

Oh, Say Can You Say?
The Foot Book, ABC,
Hop on Pop, Mr. Brown,
The Shape of Me.

Horton, and Yertle
The Lorax and Grinch
The King’s Stilts, Mulberry Street
Oh, this was a cinch!

I turned then to thank him,
That Cat in the Hat.
I turned then to thank him
But he’d have none of that.

Then putting a finger
Aside of his nose,
He gave me a wink
And up the chimney he rose!

(Sorry about that —
A little Xmas got in.
Guess I shouldn’t have taken
That third Vicodin.)

Let me say to you all
Dr. Seuss broke the mold,
Giving us the best books
For all of time told.

From America to Uruguay
Readers, thinkers, let loose.
Take a moment to say,
Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss.
Don’t forget to send the Cat in the Hat a birthday card at Seussville, where a book will be donated to First Book for every card received. If you haven’t heard it yet, you may want to try out Dylan Hears A Who for a bit of the surreal in your life. Big A, little a is doing the Poetry Round-Up today, which includes a special guest star.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I work at Random House Children's Books and would love to add you to our publicity database. Shoot me an email if you're interested in receiving review copies of Random House Children's Books. kmccafferty at randomhouse.com

Magpie said...

The Dylan link made my day! Thanks.

Anonymous said...

OMG, that poem was amazing. You really had those Seuss rhythms down.

Andromeda Jazmon said...

LOL that is beautiful! Isn't it great how Seuss rolls off your tongue? If you let yourself go you could start talking that way all the time... And here you go getting attention from Random House! Good Job!

I love that part in Cat Comes Back too. And I often think of that cold, cold, wet day part when it is and we are stuck in the house.

Mary Lee said...

Love how Christmas slipped in!

Fun. Very fun.