E.E. Cummings

Poem-A-Day April 13: love is more thicker than forget

[love is more thicker than forget]

love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

■

Today’s poem by E. E. Cummings appeared in the January 1939 issue of Poetry Magazine.

Where Have All the Poems Gone?

Hi Friends,

It’s come to my attention that some of you noticed a lack of poems in your inbox this month.

For the past many years, I’ve celebrated National Poetry Month by sharing with all of you little bits of what I love about poetry — via one poem per day, delivered to your email inbox, for the duration of the month: 30 days. 30 poems. 30 poets.

One of my weaknesses is that I really suck at doing things half-assed, watered down, or sloppily slapped together; I have an extremely difficult time lowering my standards for myself and my own work — like, to a fault; it’s a problem. This April, I found that I wasn’t gonna be able to do my poem-a-day series all-out, the way it deserves to be done — so I haven’t done it all.

But that’s not right, either. I do still want to celebrate poetry month with each you. So, some thoughts:

1. Send me a poem this April? Include a little note about why it’s a favorite of yours, or why you think it’s a poem I might like, or a comment or a question you have about the poem.

2. Six Aprils’ worth of poem-a-days are yours to revist or explore for the first time here at meetmein811.blogspot.com. Do you have a favorite previous poem-a-day, one that still sticks with you all these Aprils later?

3. I’m going to email you next week about Poem in Your Pocket Day, which is officially April 18 this year, but works well on pretty much any day in April.

4. Brackets! Poets! Powell’s Books! 3 of my favorite things, all rolled into one. Check out Powell’s Books’ new experiment this April, Poetry Madness.

5. A poem! for you! for April! (below) A thank you to Jeannine for reminding me that e.e. cummings has probably written more of my favorite poems specifically about April and spring than any other poet. What other poets do you think might rival Cummings for the (Poet)King of Spring title?

6. As always, you can learn more about National Poetry Month at the website of the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org.

I hope that you’re all doing well!

Love,
Ellen

when faces called flowers float out of the ground
and breathing is wishing and wishing is having—
but keeping is downward and doubting and never
—it’s april(yes,april;my darling)it’s spring!
yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can fly
yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be
(yes the mountains are dancing together)

when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving—
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
—alive;we’re alive,dear:it’s(kiss me now)spring!
now the pretty birds hover so she and so he
now the little fish quiver so you and so i
(now the mountains are dancing,the mountains)

when more than was lost has been found has been found
and having is giving and giving is living—
but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing
—it’s spring(all our night becomes day)o,it’s spring!
all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky
all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea
(all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)

— E.E. Cummings, from XAIPE (1950)

Poem-a-Day, April 13: ragged meadow of my soul

if i have made,my lady,intricate
imperfect various things chiefly which wrong
your eyes(frailer than most deep dreams are frail)
songs less firm than your body’s whitest song
upon my mind—if i have failed to snare
the glance too shy—if through my singing slips
the very skillful strangeness of your smile
the keen primeval silence of your hair

—let the world say, “his most wise music stole
nothing from death”—
you only will create
(who are so perfectly alive)my shame:
lady through whose profound and fragile lips
the small clumsy feet of April came

into the ragged meadow of my soul.

Hello Friends—
You can count this untitled E.E. Cummings poem from Is 5 (1926) among the most famous occurrences of “April” in poetry (see also Chaucer, Eliot). Some things don’t change: this has also been Cathy’s favorite poem for the entire decade we’ve been together — happy anniversary, my love.
–Ellen

“if i have made,my lady,intricate” by E.E. Cummings was also featured for Poem-a-Day April 12, 2007 and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2009.
Poems by E.E. Cummings were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 13, 2008 and Poem-a-Day April 20, 2010.

Poem-a-Day, April 5, 2011: Cleaning up the place.

Hello Friends —

You can’t read today’s poem-a-day.* You can only listen to it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFAOJnfM6g8

I don’t have a really articulate argument for you for why Patty Griffin‘s “Mary” crosses the line from a song to a poem. But I do recall E.E. Cummings once saying, “I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.”

— Ellen

* Lyrics available upon request.

Poem-a-day, April 20: m&m&m&m

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

Hi Friends,

Did you know that “maggie and milly and molly and may” was initially “milly and molly and maggie and may”?

I memorized this poem so early in life, and have recited it in my head so many times, I think I had forgotten that all its elements were not always as they are. The most recent issue of American Poet arrived in my mailbox with a fascimile of one of Cummings’s drafts of “maggie and milly and molly and may” on the inside back cover — a refreshing reminder that this poem was labored over through countless drafts.

Cummings rewrote the final couplet 24 times — and that’s only the drafts we have on record. The last line remains unchanged, but variations of the second-to-last line in previous drafts include:

“and if laughing’s as crying as losing can be”
“and if losing’s as certain as having can be”
“for the grief of a child is a kite in a tree”
“and as nobody said with a smile to me”
“for as nobody knows but i and he”
“but nobody noticed a rusty key”

Hopefully you’ve caught by now that April is National Poetry Month, and I am celebrating by sending out one poem per day for the duration of the month. You can learn more about National Poetry Month at www.poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets.

Poems by E.E. Cummings were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 12, 2007; Poem-a-Day April 13, 2008; Poem-a-Day April 13, 2009; and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2011.

the sweet small clumsy feet of April [13, Poem-a-Day]

if i have made,my lady,intricate
imperfect various things chiefly which wrong
your eyes(frailer than most deep dreams are frail)
songs less firm than your body’s whitest song
upon my mind—if i have failed to snare
the glance too shy—if through my singing slips
the very skilful strangeness of your smile
the keen primeval silence of your hair

—let the world say, “his most wise music stole
nothing from death”—
you only will create
(who are so perfectly alive)my shame:
lady through whose profound and fragile lips
the sweet small clumsy feet of April came

into the ragged meadow of my soul

—E.E. Cummings, Is 5 (1926)

Today’s poem is for Cathy. Happy anniversary, my love.
— Ellen

“if i have made,my lady,intricate” by E.E. Cummings was also featured for Poem-a-Day April 12, 2007 and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2011.
Poems by E.E. Cummings were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 13, 2008 and Poem-a-Day April 20, 2010.

Poem-a-day, April 13: lady i swear by all flowers

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other:then
laugh,leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

***

Hi Friends,

Today’s E.E. Cummings poem (note the capital E.E.) is for Cathy’s eyelids, and for seven years wonder-full of 13ths.

Love,
Ellen

Poems by E.E. Cummings were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 12, 2007; Poem-a-Day April 13, 2009; Poem-a-Day April 20, 2010; and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2011.

Poem-a-Day, April 12: mud-luscious & puddle-wonderful

if i have made,my lady,intricate
imperfect various things chiefly which wrong
your eyes(frailer than most deep dreams are frail)
songs less firm than your body’s whitest song
upon my mind — if i have failed to snare
the glance too shy — if through my singing slips
the very skilful strangeness of your smile
the keen primeval silence of your hair

— let the world say, “his most wise music stole
nothing from death” —
you only will create
(who are so perfectly alive)my shame:
lady through whose profound and fragile lips
the small clumsy feet of April came

into the ragged meadow of my soul

*

Hello Friends —

Of all the famous occurrences of “April” in poetry (see also Chaucer, Eliot), this untitled E.E. Cummings poem is my favorite. Oh, and the jabberwockean words in subject line of this email come from another of cumming’s great seasonal works, “in Just- / spring.”

April is National Poetry Month, and I am celebrating by emailing out my own eclectic selection of one poem per day for the duration of the month. If you wish to be unsubscribed from this Poem-a-Day email list at any time, please reply to this email with a friendly unsubscribe request (preferably in heroic couplet form). You may also request to add a consenting friend to the list, or even nominate a poem.

To learn more about National Poetry Month, or to subscribe to a more official-like Poem-a-Day list, visit www.poets.org.

Enjoy.
Ellen

“if i have made,my lady,intricate” by E.E. Cummings was featured again for Poem-a-Day April 13, 2009 and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2011.
Poems by E.E. Cummings were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 13, 2008 and Poem-a-Day April 20, 2010.