in honor of e.e. cummings, i will write this post with no capital letters.
i mean, it's really the only way to write about him. :)
e.e. cummings is a genius.
he's creative.
he's deep.
he gets that life is complicated and beautiful.
he gets that we have to work at understanding it all and that if we stretch our literal understandings of what we know to be true
--just a little--
there are remarkable discoveries to be made.
--just a little--
there are remarkable discoveries to be made.
my love affair with e.e. cummings started with his famous i carry your heart poem.
brian and i had this read at our wedding.
brian says parts of it to me quite often.
and, it references a tree--so it's pretty perfect in my world.
in fact, brian gave me a first edition printing of the 1950 publication, 95 poems, with our poem in it {#92}as a wedding gift.
it's pretty freaking awesome.
i was reminded and involved with another one of his poems recently;
maggie and milly and molly and may.
there are a million reasons why this poem is perfectly wonderful.
to start, the setting is the sea.
oh! the sea!
there is something magical about the sea and it's ways--
waves
breezes
sand
creatures
mystery
it's all so intoxicating and e.e. cummings captures this in his poem.
but these lines, which are offset with an uncharacteristic capital letter {'f''}, speak the loudest:
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.
the loss of a "you" {normalcy, routine, control, etc., etc.!} is scary and unpredictable.
a friend of mine is going through a rough time of "losing a you" right now. so another friend of mine and i decided to give her this poem and a gift basket filled with items from the sea to help her find herself during this yucky time.
{the picture of our really cool basket was too terrible to publish, but trust me, it was off the hook!}
as we watched her open the gift, and as she saw the places she could "find herself", i thought about how we all need to find ourselves in our own "sea" {whatever that might be!}
i am a believer of tangible ways to do this.
i have a collection on my desk of things that remind me that "myself" can be found
no matter what is going on--
and this gives me hope.
in fact, brian gave me a first edition printing of the 1950 publication, 95 poems, with our poem in it {#92}as a wedding gift.
i was reminded and involved with another one of his poems recently;
maggie and milly and molly and may.
to start, the setting is the sea.
oh! the sea!
there is something magical about the sea and it's ways--
waves
breezes
sand
creatures
mystery
it's all so intoxicating and e.e. cummings captures this in his poem.
but these lines, which are offset with an uncharacteristic capital letter {'f''}, speak the loudest:
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.
the loss of a "you" {normalcy, routine, control, etc., etc.!} is scary and unpredictable.
a friend of mine is going through a rough time of "losing a you" right now. so another friend of mine and i decided to give her this poem and a gift basket filled with items from the sea to help her find herself during this yucky time.
{the picture of our really cool basket was too terrible to publish, but trust me, it was off the hook!}
as we watched her open the gift, and as she saw the places she could "find herself", i thought about how we all need to find ourselves in our own "sea" {whatever that might be!}
i am a believer of tangible ways to do this.
i have a collection on my desk of things that remind me that "myself" can be found
no matter what is going on--
i.love.this.post! I think I need to get in touch with some e.e. cummings! Thank you for this inspiration on a Friday before a holiday weekend!
ReplyDelete"I look forward to exploring the rest of the collection as well as the rest of our lives with you" Tears! Brian is so perfect for you!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd . . . I meant to somehow incorporate in the basket my absolute favorite "sea" quote. "I'll get down to the sea somehow" (Rock Me on the Water, jackson Browne). I have it everywhere--engraved on my iPad, on the wall in my bedroom, as a signature line for my email, etc. I think that line is just so similar to ee's.
Love the post, and I know our friend loves it, too!
If I wasn't using random.org, you would win my giveaway with your quote. Thanks so much for sharning. i, too, am a lover of e.e. cummings.
ReplyDelete