When I was a child, I read many books
Where there were authors, I gave them all looks.
But everyone knows that the child who is wise’ll
Check out the books of one Theodore Geisel.
Or Theo LeSieg, or other men whose
Face would be known by the name Dr.Seuss!


One day in college, he was busted for drinking;
It was the US in the ’20s—what was he thinking?
The dean there at Dartmouth made him quit all his groups,
But Theo figured he’d jump through some hoops
And publish his work under his middle name,
And that was the ‘nym that gained all his fame.


Seuss drew some cartoons for Judge and the Post,
But it’s his ads for Flit that brought money the most.
“Quick, Henry,the Flit!” with a Seussian critter
Was the ad that attention everyone knew would git’er.
It also brought money, so he married his wife,
And while they were traveling, a sound changed his life.


The rhythm of the engine made him write a poem,
And that, my dear children, is why we all know ‘im.
He wrote To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street,
And drew the pictures, which are all pretty neat.
Publishers rejected it, but he didn’t despair.
Eventually, Vanguard printed it, so there!


During World War II, Seuss served his nation,
And his work from that era causes some twitterpation.
It’s true that he fought “America First” and other such rot,
But there is art from that time that he’d wish we forgot.
To portray “the Jap” with thick glasses and buck teeth
Is a form of racism he should have thought beneath
The dignity of a man supportive of blacks and Jews.
Well, hypocrisy in bigotry isn’t quite news.


He drew lots of posters, helped create Private Snafu,
And after the War,there was still more to do.
“GeraldMcBoingBoing,” McElligot’s Pool—
And then came the idea to use books as a tool.
“To get kids to love reading, make their books more fun!”
And so The Cat In the Hat was begun.
Just a few basic words first graders should read;
In the hands of ol’ Theo, what more did you need?


Not using a moral was a trick he defended,
But often, a deeper metaphor was intended.
Yertle was Hitler,as everyone knew,
And most of his works are of such a skew.
The Sneetches, the Lorax, and of course the Grinch, too;
All were written from a liberal view.
He sued when folk used Horton to be anti-choice—
And did I mention his name once rhymed with “Joyce?”


Dr. Seuss was an icon to many a kid,
And movies and TV are other things he did.
His work with Chuck Jones was really the best,
And of course Dr. T. is as good as the rest.
The new movies they make all far miss the point,
And I’m sure if he saw them, he’d be disappoint
Ed, even though he once said
That the Jones Grinch wasn’t quite the one in his head.


There’s much to his rhythms and much to his rhymes,
And lit crit’s a hobby for me when I have times.
But those kids who love him don’t care about that.
They love him for Max and for Gerald and the Cat.


Writing like Seuss took a great deal of work;
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