Dr. Seuss Style

Dr. Seuss often wrote in a loose anapestic tetrameter among other styles. Four anapests in a row make twelve syllable lines. Dr. Seuss when writing in this style typically started out with flawless form but then mixed it up sometimes adding an unstressed syllable at the end of a line or subtracting a syllable from the beginning of a line. He used internal rhymes with the end words, especially in early stanzas, and when using end rhyme patterns he would break the pattern (usually the second to last rhyme) for emphasis.

My meter is not so perfect, anapests seem to just be pests to me… but here is something:

high above blue blue sky restless stars swim and fly
goldfish bright breathing bubbles of light and cool night
they go whispering whispers to strangers and moths
they go flowing through dark as if dark were their sight
then they stop freeze and halt every time you look up
if you want to see them swim you have to pretend
you’re not looking

Okay, maybe I’ll get something better later…

• Posted in: only what might be true