8. Men who find solace in nature and men who never laid down with her
Feel the world differently. They yield or take.
9. The birds are talking. Put your phone down.
10. When e. e. Cummings wrote “…ask me the name of the moon in the man,” he meant, oh, so many things. “…ask me the name of the mountain in the man.”
11. Abandoned: A musky Den. The tractor came, mice scurried, and fox fled or went after them.
12. What does one say to a tree?
13. The creek is uncountable and so are the days, here in the high meadows.
14. Yes, cloud bursting is a sport. Hawks do it all the time.
AFTER CUMMINGS POEMS
These are poems I wrote after the poems of e. e. cummings...
teacher
by michael r. burch, age 16-17
teacher, take a look at my life,
for it has just begun
and u think that i am “misinformed”
merely because i'm young;
but the truth is often hidden
(what lies lurk behind ur eyes?)
and maybe Puff can tell u
where the Dragon flies.
teacher, take a look at my life:
urs is a dull-edged knife
(the white-hot blade long blunted).
now ur as cold as ice.
still, when u come to class,
act like u know it all,
for if u show insecurity,
surely wee will folderol.
I wrote "teacher" in either 10th or 11th grade after hearing the song "Old Man" by Neil Young. "Wee" is a pun, not a typo.
don’t forget
by michael r. burch
for Beth
don’t forget to remember
that Space is curved
(like your Heart)
and that even Light is bent
by your Gravity.
The opening lines of my poem were inspired by a famous love poem by e. e. cummings.
Keywords/Tags: e. e. cummings, teacher, teach, teaching, teachers' day, student, school, class, eduction, space, curved, gravity, heart, love
don’t forget ...
by Michael R. Burch
don’t forget to remember
that Space is curved
(like your Heart)
and that even Light is bent
by your Gravity.
NOTE: The opening lines were inspired by a famous love poem written by e. e. cummings.
when staring at e. e. cummings’ little ‘i’
—not reading,
it reminds me of st. francis’ sublime yet humble lowly jesus:
“he hides himself under the little form of bread”
if cummings’ little ‘i’ meant
the ‘i’ overpowered by something like gigantic rock,
overwhelmed by this evil prevailing world,
or intimidated by the malicious neighbors,
the ‘i’ hidden under a piece of bread is the lord
coming as an ‘i’ that is even smaller than the cummings’,
though he is the possessor of the power
and more than able to punish the world,
to save those worthless ‘i’s
for st. francis’ reverence on the consecrated piece of bread is
not of the dwarfish ‘i’ but of a pious one,
let my ‘i’ be not of the blasphemous one’s
but of the pious one’s as well,
the ‘i’ gazing at the forsaken lord
who died on the cross as a lonely ‘i’
Not a single feeling felt
ever could before with me
corner like a kitten I am.
Ended love as elastic gap
stretched time wide to go
straight to end, and over.
Am on trial, feels a coma
reduced to fever, in fear
yes I love will never say.
Time passed to clarity in
end of my quote end quote.
Most kind tragic plot arc
planted seed inside, made
often mistakes, now knows
reality to always witness
alpha first then to omega.
Reset heart aches now for
yes but waits more to say.
(note from author: this is an acrostic where the letters at the beginning and end of the lines both form words. I put an homage to e. e. cummings in there who can find it?)
Poetic history is created daily and
Historic poets paved that winding road.
Some with natural writing skills others,
Couldn’t function sober like Edgar Allan Poe.
Determined to write out their hearts,
Defines that poetry has no cost.
Words in rhyme in a calibrated phrase,
Was greatly shown by Robert Frost.
When I look for a poetess that catches my eye,
It’s not hard in picking one.
The beautiful literature created to educate,
Was written by Emily Dickinson.
A compelling use of the abandonment,
Of the uppercase letters can be stunning.
And is seen throughout the work,
Of the poet mr. e. e. cummings.
One of the best, combined allegory,
And added a spice of fiction.
His verses still reverberate,
He is the poet Walt Whitman.
The freedom of poetry comes free,
But some poets paid some dues.
The literature created from pain,
Came from Langston Hughes.
Libraries are full of poets whose words,
And phrases of our language echo.
American classics wouldn’t be complete,
Without Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.