If you never cut your pasta,  

it will curl around your spoon.

Higher! Higher! Noodles climbing,

swirling like a small typhoon.

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If you leave it long and dangling,

it expands before your eyes,

stretching out like soft elastic,

growing fifty times its size.

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It will wrap around your elbow,

up your arm and in your hair,

sliding over plates and glasses,

oozing underneath your chair.

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Slowly, you will see it creeping,

up the walls, across the floors,

under the refrigerator,

gushing out through open doors.

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Slipping over city sidewalks,

flowing swiftly through the cracks,

drifting to the subway stations,

clogging up the trains and tracks.

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Cars will stall in pasta puddles,

roads will fill with starchy slush,

heavy rains would spell disaster,

turning pasta into mush.

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We would close the city parks  

and empty all the swimming pools.  

Worst of all and devastating…

WE’D BE FORCED TO CLOSE THE SCHOOLS!

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Children, you must join me now.

Start today to save the world.

Tell your parents! Tell your friends!

Pasta must be cut, not curled!

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Eat your pasta hot or cold,

add some butter, sauce, or cheese.

Never let it twist or curl…

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SAVE THE EARTH!

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CUT IT, PLEASE!

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© Susan Jakubowski