Poem of the Day – e.e. cummings

'Petal by petal as spring opens her first rose'

I won’t be able to post much this week. I’m flooded with work and deadlines. I have 5 poems due March 5th, and one BIG poem due March 16th. On top of that, I have midterms and other stuff that dictates my future. Same ‘ol shit.

I assume some of my more faithful readers will be annoyed at seeing another e.e. cummings poem. Sorry, it’s my blog. Also, he’s an amazing wordsmith. This one’s an American classic.

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

-e.e. cummings

His ‘love’ poems are like nothing else. When I asked one of my professors his favorite classic American authors, he listed cummings three times. Cummings, cummings, cummings.

Now that I’ve learned more about e.e. (can I call you that?), I understand.

God Save the Books,
C. Harder

Related posts:

1. Poem of the Day – I love my body when it is with your
2. Poem of the Day – she being Brand
3. Poem of the Day – Charles Bukowski
4. Poem of the Day – For Saundra
5. Poem Feature