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well, people, now you know where i get my inspiration from: idle 14th century poets and 1st grade readers!
because today i want to tell you about one of my heroes – dr. seuss: a fabulous poet, a man with passionate convictions, and a great painter. yes, he wrote children’s books. but his imagination and insight reach far, far beyond first graders (not that i mean to slight any first graders - there’s a thing or two they can teach us adults, or “obsolete children” as dr. seuss once called grown-ups).
have you ever read the lorax? even this retelling of it on wikipedia, without the poetry and without the evocative illustrations, brings tears to my eyes. it is the story of an old, lonely man who once waltzed into a small town, beautiful with trees, rivers, birds and fish, and who destroyed all of that by not listening to the voice that speaks for the environment. only, a tiny, tiny seed of hope remains …
dr. seuss, like many great artists, plays with paradox and layers and layers of meaning. and on the topic of meaning, he himself is paradoxical, too. while it is abundantly obvious that at least some of his pieces, like the lorax or yertle the turtle (and of course his political cartoons), carry strong messages about society, he has also been quoted as saying, “preachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in [dr. seuss’s books]. no matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.”
so rather than analyzing more of his work, i’ll just present some of it here to you, for you to make your own sense or nonsense of it. (and that in itself is a political statement of sorts, isn’t it? isn’t that what democracy is all about, letting people make up their own minds?)
there are troubles of more than one kind. some come from ahead and some come from behind. but i’ve bought a big bat. i’m all ready you see. now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
you have brains in your head. you have feet in your shoes. you can steer yourself in any direction you choose. .
and you know what you know. you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
think left and think right and think low and think high. oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
if you never did you should. these things are fun and fun is good
unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. it’s not.
my alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. it’s the letter i use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. you’ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond ‘z’ and start poking around!
shorth is better than length.
and the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free- as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
isabella mori
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Rae // Nov 9, 2006 at 8:35 am
i have been reading your old blog and new almost all morning. i won’t bore you with my details, only tell you that you gave me a little bit of peace this morning. i have a lot of figuring out to do, sounds like I need to set that goal, not be outgoaled. *sigh* glad i found the co-dependance picture. i needed to find that. and i’m hanging it on my desk to remind me. thank you.
rae
2 isabella mori // Jan 2, 2007 at 3:57 pm
seeing that this is one of the more frequently read blog entries, i researched this oeuvre of dr. seuss some more. it seems that i didn’t quite have the correct wording. so here is the whole text:
You can
think up
some birds.
That’s what you can do.
You can think about yellow
or think about blue . . .
You can think about red.
You can think about pink.
You can think up a horse.
Oh, the THINKS you can think!
Oh, the THINKS
you can think up
if only you try!
If you try try,
you can think up
a GUFF going by.
And you don’t have to stop.
You can think about SCHLOPP.
Schlopp. Schlopp. Beautiful schlopp.
Beautiful schlopp
with a cherry on top.
You can think about gloves.
You can think about SNUVS.
You can think a long time
about snuvs and their gloves.
You can think about
Kitty O’Sullivan Krauss
in her big balloon swimming pool
over her house.
Think of black water.
Think up a white sky.
Think up a boat.
Think of BLOOGS blowing by.
You can think about Night,
a night in Na-Nupp.
The birds are asleep
and the three moons are up.
You can think about Day,
a day in Da-Dake.
The water is blue
and the birds are awake.
Think! Think and wonder.
Wonder and think.
How much water
can fifty-five elephants drink?
You can wonder . . .
How long
is the tail
of a ZONG?
There are so many THINKS
that a Thinker can think!
Would you dare
yank a tooth
of the
RINK-RINKER-FINK?
And
what would
you do
if
you met
a JIBBOO?
Oh, the THINKS
you can think!
Think of
Peter the Postman
who crosses the ice
once every day –
and on Saturdays, twice.
THINK! You can think
any THINK
that you wish . . .
Think
a race
on a horse
on a ball
with a fish!
Think of Light.
Think of Bright.
Think of
Stairs in the Night.
THINK!
Think a ship.
Think up a long trip.
Go visit the VIPPER.,
the Vipper of Vipp.
And left!
Think of Left!
And think about BEFT.
Why is it that beft
always go to the left?
And why is it
so many things
go to the Right?
You can think about THAT
until Saturday night.
Think left and think right
and think low and think high.
Oh, the THINKS you can think up if only you try!
3 more inspiration from dr. seuss: no one is youer than you » change therapy - isabella mori // Mar 21, 2007 at 5:28 pm
[…] that’s a quote from dr. seuss’s book, happy birthday to you. (as some of you know, i’m a big dr. seuss fan.) […]
4 guffs and schlopps: a bit of seutherapy » change therapy - isabella mori // Aug 26, 2007 at 9:22 pm
[…] if you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. thanks for visiting!dr. seuss never ceases to amaze me. maybe we should start “seutherapy” – aaah, the sound alone of the word already conjures up something great. soothing, subversive, seuss-y and let’s not forget suess – the german word for sweet. […]
5 mike // Jun 28, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Dr. Seuss has many dimensions I am only discovering. What many just think was a childrens book writer had so much more going on.
When I read your post, one of the things I was struck by was that this was more mature, but still have the same Dr. Seuss feel.
As I read, I felt some of the same wonder and possiblity that I did as a child reading his stories.
Thank you for sharing, and presenting more about the doc.
Mike
6 kim // Jun 29, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Do you know if Dr Seuss illustrated the books too? In addition to the writing, it is also the very distinct artwork that makes things so special.
Every christmas, we try to find the most crooked tree to put up, then we also put on a very heavy ornament to make it bend over!
7 isabella mori // Jun 29, 2008 at 10:03 pm
thanks for the comment, @mike! yes, dr. seuss has many dimensions. did you have a chance to read my other articles on dr. seuss?
@kim, yes, he illustrated all his books. as i mentioned, he was also a painter. the painting above is one of his. there is also a great book, “the secret art of dr. seuss” that showcases his work as a painter.
8 fredi // Jul 4, 2008 at 7:35 am
He was really a great poet:)
Fredi
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