Theodore Geisel on Jay Wentworth
He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.
And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.
"Mister!" he said with a sawdusty sneeze,
"I am the Wentworth. I speak for the Beats.
I speak for the Beats, for the Beats are old or dead.
And I'm asking you, sir, by the skin on my head--
he was very upset and he shouted and puffed--
"Do this paper over for this draft is too rough!"
And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Wentworth, "Now listen here, Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say, 'Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!'
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I'm telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And, for your information, you Wentworth, I'm figgering
on writering
and WRITERING
and WRITERING
and WRITERING,
turning out MORE Papers just like this one
and when I finish it, it's going to be DONE!"
The Wentworth said nothing. Just gave me a glance...
just gave me a very sad, sad backward glance...
as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants.
And I'll never forget the grim look on his face
when he heisted himself and took leave of this place
through the door to his office, without leaving a trace.
And all that the Wentworth left here in this mess
was a small scratch of writing, with one word...
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn't guess.
That was long , long ago
But each day since that day
I've sat here and worried
and worried away.
Through the years, while my books
have fallen apart,
I've worried about it with all of my heart.
"But now ," says the Soph-mler,
"Now that you're here,
the word of the Wentworth seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS I care,
care about my Paper a whole lot,
I'm not going to write better.
I'm not."
"SO...
write your papers over. Write your pen dry.
Create multiple drafts and work til you cry.
Invest no ego and don't shy away from teachers that hack.
Then the Wentworth
and all his Beat buddies
may all come back."
Note: Apologies to Dr. Suess
© Copyright 1997
Alex Howard
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