A Letter To Theodor Geisel - Aka Dr Seuss

Some get hooked on poetry By reading Robert Frost Or Dickinson or Poe Or others whom their paths have crossed. In college I read Coleridge, Byron, Shelley,Whitman, Pound, T.S. Eliot and Wordsworth, All in Norton’s, nicely bound. But in truth, what got me started Was less lofty, though enticing – More like turning from the cake So I could focus on the icing. For my intro into rhyming (If you don’t count Mother Goose), Were the silly stories written By that master, Dr. Seuss. I was lifted and delighted By each word upon each page; Though he also drew the pictures, It was language that engaged. Every rhyme and all the rhythm Seeped by suction to my veins And they flowed into the depths Where the important stuff remains. So to Dr. Seuss I owe a debt. He changed the way I’m wired And I wonder if he realized All the poets he inspired.