Echoes: Verse 8, e.e. cummings

may i feel said he
by e.e. cummings

may i feel said he
(i'll squeal said she
just once said he)
it's fun said she

(may i touch said he
how much said she
alot said he)
why not said she

(let's go said he
not too far said she
what's too far said he
where you are said she)

may i said he
(which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she

may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you're willing said he
(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she

(tiptop said he
don't stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she

(cccome?said he
umm said she)
you're divine!said he
(you are Mine said she)


cummings, e.e.  "may i feel said he."  The Norton anthology of Poetry. ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2005.  (1395-1396)
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since feeling is first
by e.e. cummings

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

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fae
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers.  Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
our 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

cummings, e.e.  "since feeling is first."  The Norton anthology of Poetry. ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2005.  (1394-1395).

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Edward Estlin Cummings was born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Edward and Rebecca Haskwell Clarke Cummings.  His writing style is one of the most innovative of the twentieth century. He uses distorted syntax and unusual punctuation to illustrate simple, and often satirical themes on either the decay of modern society, or on love.

Many say that cummings' multitude of love poems stem from his many marriages. On March 19, 1924, he married Elaine Orr, who he had had a daughter with some years earlier. He divorced her on December 4 of the same year. In 1927, he married Anne Barton. He later divorced her to marry model and actress Marion Morehouse, with whom he remained married until his death in 1962.

When considering the writing style of e. e. cummings, one must note his use of punctuation, sarcasm, rhyme and enjambment. The poetry of e. e. starts with the basic principle that punctuation is an art form all its own. He uses punctuation like a second alphabet, to add to the intensity of his poems, and to make points without using words. Perhaps a more commonly used form of poetic device is called enjambment, or the running-on of a sentence from one line to the next. Not only does e. e. use enjambment, but he uses it so freely that one sentence might be the entire poem, and might take up fifteen lines with nine words.