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| Seuss Memorial Garden, Springfield, MA, Photo from Trip Advisor |
At Wells College when Dr. Seuss died—
students were crying ev’rywhere:
cafeteria, halls, classrooms,
canoes, Lake Cayuga, and dorms.
We hugged his books and admitted
they shared our text book shelves and that
we rested with his pages in
between stages of growth
And yet, we knew the books were weird
weirder than could be—we knew that
if the Cat in the Hat were real
we would lock all our doors
But Seuss rhymed us to curious
took us to actions and peoples
outside the lines we colored in
beyond our little lives.
Poets United's prompt, Wonder??? Wednesday #1, took me back to 26 September 1991 and the death of Dr. Seuss in the first semester of my first assistant professor of theatre job ever. Re-posted for more exposure in Poets United Poetry Pantry - #118.
Oh I cant believe you were at the very campus when he died....OR that there actually is a Dr Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden - just goes to show - poets are loved and needed in this world! Yay!
ReplyDeleteI do think Dr. Seuss touched many lives....not only the lives of the young. He made us all stretch our imaginations and showed us the joy of just playing with words. My granddaughter loves the Cat in the Hat on PBS. So do I!
ReplyDeleteWow, so happy you shared this with us! I can't imagine how many people he affected!
ReplyDeleteI loved your ending:
" But Seuss rhymed us to curious
took us to actions and peoples
outside the lines we colored in
beyond our little lives."
Beautiful!!!
YES. I also cried when Shel Silverstein died. Such amazing voices.
ReplyDeletehe lives on in his books....and i agree on shel as well....both sad losses as they were the first poetry i really knew....fun, magical...not grown up with big words i had to look up....ha...or form i had to understand...smiles
ReplyDeleteWhere would we be without the magic :)
ReplyDeleteI like this poem. You capture something of the contradictions of humaninty!
ReplyDeleteWhere would we be now without his writing? Great piece Susan!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know this....his words and stories live on ~
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday Susan ~
nice tribute.well done!
ReplyDeletethe first books i gave my daughter and each grandchild were Dr. Seuss! he left a wonderful legacy, did he not?
ReplyDeletehave a great week!
♥
Incredible! I can't believe that you were there--love Seuss and love this poem--he was such an inspiration for reading, he did beguile us :-) Thank you
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