Wacky Wednesday #47—Dr. Seuss

 

 

This is a poem I created in the style of Dr. Seuss, in honor of his birthday today…

 

 

Did you know, did you hear

What is special today?

Let’s shout it out loud:

It’s Dr. Seuss’ birthday!

 

Today he would be

One hundred and twelve.

I’ll go get the candles

Off of the shelf.

 

Dr. Seuss lived

To be eighty-seven.

I think he’s now drawing

And painting in Heaven.

 

Oh, such joy

Oh, what fun

All his books

bring to everyone.

 

Did you know that he wrote

More than sixty books--

In twenty languages?

The whole world is hooked.

 

How we love

All his rhymes

As we read

At bed time.

 

Funny words

And colors bright.

I read them all day.

I read them all night.

 

Dr. Seuss,

Your books bring such joy

To women and men,

And girls and boys.

To cats and bats

And rats and gnats

And rats in hats

And bats on mats.

 

You made us laugh

So many times.

Such delightful words.

Such fun-filled rhymes.

 

What can we offer

To thank you so much

For sharing your humor

with all of us?

A sculpture?

A song?

A note

That is five miles long?

 

Thanks for

Making the ham green--

As well as the eggs--

They’re the greenest I’ve seen.

 

From all of us readers

From near and from far

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss,

You raised the bar.

__________________________________

 

 

I was going to post only the poem and not do a big back story about this costume.

But that just isn’t me. For me, the back story is part of the fun. So:

 

This costume idea came to me months ago when I discovered that Dr. Seuss’ birthday was going to fall on a Wednesday this year. Dr. Seuss is delightful, no matter where you live. But I live in San Diego, where Dr. Seuss spent the second half of his life, so we have a lot of enthusiasm for him here.

 

A few weeks ago my adorable neighbor gave me yards of lime green polyester pant suit material. She once sewed her own clothes and has given me fabric and patterns she’s had since the 60s and 70s because she isn’t likely to use these things anymore. I’d just realized that I didn’t have a lime green polyester pant suit, so her timing was perfect. Just kidding. I prefer dresses. So what should I do with this material? Soon I realized that the Kermit the Frog color of this fabric was the exact shade I needed for my green eggs and ham piece of today’s costume. Solution found. Here is a 24-second video of me. I’m putting the pieces of my hat together: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of a tree a few miles from here in La Jolla. Years ago, before I knew that Dr. Seuss once lived in San Diego, I saw these cartoon-like trees:

photo credit: Jason Zite

At some point I realized that these very trees were ones that Dr. Seuss (who lived in that neighborhood) probably used as inspiration for truffula trees he drew in books like The Lorax:

This is the fabric I used to make my skirt. Happy clothes make happy people!

Dr. Seuss’ drawing style and color choices are bright and full of life—and not limited to the colors you usually see in nature. I love that he made up words and names and embraced silliness. That appealed to me as a child and it appeals to me as an adult. As I often say, adults need laughs, too.

As an artist I’m in awe of Dr. Seuss’ imagination. The ideas kept flowing and he wrote book after book, full of strange creatures and made-up places and a few life lessons, too. Could he have guessed how much his characters would mean to kids and grownups alike?

 

Dr. Seuss, happy birthday

From all of us fans.

Thanks a lot for the books.

You make our hearts dance!

 

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