By Charly SHELTON

I grew up with a mom who’s a bleeding heart hippie.
She told me a story that some might call trippy.

And now that old tale, from beloved Dr. Seuss,
Is made into a movie to reach out to youth

And tell them the story on the big screen, they’ll see,
this film from the makers of “Despicable Me.”

It’s the tale of the Lorax, who speaks for the trees,
In a world that’s covered in grime and in sleaze.

The Once-ler’s a man who destroyed all the land
When he cut down the trees with machines or by hand.

He needed to make his fabulous ‘thneed’
It’s a scarf, it’s a hat, it’s what all people need.
He cut down the Truffula trees, every one,
He cut them all down, until they were gone.

The Lorax had tried to reason with him,
But standing there in the smog and the dim

Light that showed through the polluted clouds,
He left just one word that made not a sound.

The rock where he stood said only “Unless”
Its meaning the Once-ler could not even guess.

Then many years later, a boy who’s named Ted
Put off all his friends and went out instead.

To find this old Once-ler on the outskirts of town
And ask him what happened, what had gone down.

That made all of the wonderful trees disappear
And why there aren’t any trees left around here.

The Once-ler, he told Ted about the Lorax
And how he had tried to stop saw and axe.

He told Ted this tale to try and unlock
The mysterious message that’s left on the rock.

And now that he sees the impact he’s made
The Once-ler deciphers the rock in the shade.

And the message that was left for him,
Sitting there, aging, alone in the din.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”

He passes the Lorax’s message to Ted-
Its meaning still bouncing around in his head.

Ted and his peers, of this new generation
Hold the key to stopping the big corporation

That’s keeping the world in need of fresh air,
A company run by Mister O’Hare.

Ted talks to the people and he tells his story,
He tells of a world of unbelievable glory,

Where the air is all clean and the water is clear,
The way that it used to be around here.

And this moral is good for our population
For our kids who never leave the PlayStation,

To know that there is undeniable need
To protect the environment and speak for the trees.

In this world where temperatures are always rising
And the population is all but downsizing,
The Lorax’s message is important as ever–
The book or the movie, its all very clever.

A neat little film for kids and adults
That hopefully will yield some climatic results.

About the environment we all need to care,
From the clouds to the trees to the Bar-ba-loot bear.

Great moral, great cast, great fun that’s all ours,
I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.

  Charly Shelton