July 21, 2004
Thankfully, not all of e.e. cummings' work is hard to read. Take out the weird shit, and what remains is remarkably brilliant. Not surprisingly, i'm especially drawn to his erotic stuff. Sometimes i'm not sure whether he's talking about what i think he's talking about, or whether it's just my own dirty mind. I like that in a poem. Plausible deniability.
An example:
because i love you)last nightclothed in sealace
appeared to me
your mind drifting
with chuckling rubbish
of pearl weed coral and stones;lifted,and(before my
eyes sinking)inward,fled;softly
your face smile breasts gargled
by death:drowned onlyagain carefully through deepness to rise
these your wrists
thighs feet handspoising
to again utterly disappear;
rushing gently swiftly creeping
through my dreams last
night,all of your
body with its spirit floated
(clothed only inthe tide's acute weaving murmur
Nice, isn't it? Less subtle is this racy example:
my girl's tall with hard long eyes
as she stands, with her long hard hands keeping
silence on her dress, good for sleeping
is her long hard body filled with surprise
like a white shocking wire, when she smiles
a hard long smile it sometimes makes
gaily go clean through me tickling aches,
and the weak noise of her eyes easily files
my impatience to an edge--my girl's tall
and taut, with thin legs just like a vine
that's spent all of its life on a garden-wall,
and is going to die. When we grimly go to bed
with these legs she begins to heave and twine
about me, and to kiss my face and head.
Whew, there's a little bit of excitement for your blog reading day!
But sometimes, e.e. could throw all subtlety out the window, as in this bawdy piece:
the boys i mean are not refined
they go with girls who buck and bite
they do not give a fuck for luck
they hump them thirteen times a night
one hangs a hat upon her tit
one carves a cross on her behind
they do not give a shit for wit
the boys i mean are not refined
they come with girls who bite and buck
who cannot read and cannot write
who laugh like they would fall apart
and masturbate with dynamite
the boys i mean are not refined
they cannot chat of that and this
they do not give a fart for art
they kill like you would take a piss
they speak whatever's on their mind
they do whatever's in their pants
the boys i mean are not refined
they shake the mountains when they dance
Dang, that's some kick-ass poetry. i'm not crazy about a lot of his stuff, but if he were around today, i'd bet e.e. could take the prize at any poetry slam contest.
Posted by: annika at
04:24 PM
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Posted by: Hugo at July 21, 2004 05:05 PM (ntfdi)
Posted by: annika! at July 21, 2004 05:07 PM (zAOEU)
Posted by: gcotharn in Texas at July 21, 2004 08:50 PM (PcgQk)
Posted by: David Boxenhorn at July 22, 2004 02:56 AM (NimIk)
Posted by: annika! at July 22, 2004 01:08 PM (zAOEU)
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