SuessStory 5

Look! I see a bubbling brook.
By that brook there is a nook.
In that nook there sits a crook
Fierce-eyed, sharp-beaked as a rook.
In his hands there lies a book.
He hisses with a burning look:

“In this book there is no hook,
Only gobbledy and gook!
My advice you never took.
Give up writing. Learn to cook.

I am not the sort of schmuck
Who would buy this tasteless muck.
Lady, you are out of luck!”

There! I think that lightning struck.

Did you see how that writer shook?
Did you see the leap she took
Out of that hot-burning nook
Into the cool and splashy brook,
As her novel she forsook?

Aren’t you glad you stopped to look?
You should go and pitch your book
To a kinder, gentler crook.

--Joanna Hoyt