Just sharing a favorite poem, having nothing better to do.

bleachededen · Sun Apr 04, 2010 2:10 am

Enjoy.

--------

notice the convulsed orange inch of moon
perching on this silver minute of evening.

We’ll choose the way to the forest—no offense
to you,white town whose spires softly dare.
Will take the houseless wisping rune
of road lazily carved on sharpening air.

Fields lying miraculous in violent silence

fill with microscopic whithering
…(that’s the Black People, chérie,
who live under stones.) Don’t be afraid

and we will pass the simple ugliness
of exact tombs,where a large road crosses
and all the people are minutely dead.

Then you will slowly kiss me

-e.e. cummings

GaryG48 · Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:47 am

My favorite cummings:

plato told

him:he couldn't
believe it(jesus

told him; he
wouldn't believe
it)lao

tsze
certainly told
him,and general
(yes

mam)
sherman;
and even

(believe it
or

not(you
told him:i told
him;we told him
(he didn't believe it,no

sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth

avenue
el;in the top of his head:to tell

him

e.e. cummings

bleachededen · Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:55 am

I like that one, as well, although I still wonder who the "him" is.

DWill · Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:11 am


	bleachededen wrote: Enjoy. -------- notice the convulsed orange inch of moon perching on this silver minute of evening. We’ll choose the way to the forest—no offense to you,white town whose spires softly dare. Will take the houseless wisping rune of road lazily carved on sharpening air. Fields lying miraculous in violent silence fill with microscopic whithering …(that’s the Black People, chérie, who live under stones.) Don’t be afraid and we will pass the simple ugliness of exact tombs,where a large road crosses and all the people are minutely dead. Then you will slowly kiss me -e.e. cummings

Once I had a seminar called "The Sonnet in English." The prof. presented cummings as working within that very traditional form non-traditionally. I don't remember this as an example, but it could be one.

DWill · Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:15 am


	bleachededen wrote: I like that one, as well, although I still wonder who the "him" is.

I'm wondering, too, gary. Also wonder about the nipponized section of the 6th avenue el.

GaryG48 · Sun Apr 04, 2010 9:52 am

In the 1930's the 6th avenue elevated train track in NYC was torn down. The track was sold to Japan as scrap iron. cummings is assuming the Japanese use the scrap iron to build bombs.

The "him" is us, humans--philosophers , sages, and warriors tried to tell us, we even told ourselves, "war is hell" but we would not believe until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

bleachededen · Sun Apr 04, 2010 11:04 am


	GaryG48 wrote: In the 1930's the 6th avenue elevated train track in NYC was torn down. The track was sold to Japan as scrap iron. cummings is assuming the Japanese use the scrap iron to build bombs. The "him" is us, humans--philosophers , sages, and warriors tried to tell us, we even told ourselves, "war is hell" but we would not believe until the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I like this read of it.

When I read the "nipponized 6th avenue el" part, I immediately thought of something to do with either China or Japan, because in Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, all the Asians are referred to as Nipponese. I originally thought this was something Stephenson had invented for the novel, but when I saw it again here I knew it must be an archaic term for Asian peoples. Interesting when and how seemingly useless knowledge becomes relevant.

froglipz · Sun Apr 04, 2010 2:41 pm

It is the old name for the Japanese, their country was Nippon.

I like the first poem better, especially the "violent silence". We are all used to thinking of silence as peaceful, especially parents of small children

But it is not always so, sometimes it seems as if the sounds have been torn away from us.

bleachededen · Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:04 pm


	froglipz wrote: It is the old name for the Japanese, their country was Nippon. I like the first poem better, especially the "violent silence". We are all used to thinking of silence as peaceful, especially parents of small children But it is not always so, sometimes it seems as if the sounds have been torn away from us.

Absolutely. That's one of the lines I especially love in that poem.

Saffron · Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:52 pm

DWill wrote:


	bleachededen wrote: I like that one, as well, although I still wonder who the "him" is.

I'm wondering, too, gary. Also wonder about the nipponized section of the 6th avenue el.

Let's parse it out.

From Wikionary & Wikipedia:

The IRT Sixth Avenue Line, often called the Sixth Avenue Elevated or Sixth Avenue El, was the second elevated railway in Manhattan in New York City, following the Ninth Avenue Elevated. In addition to its transportation role, it also captured the imagination of artists and poets.
and

Etymology - From Nippon, native name for Japan
nipponized - Past participle

to nipponize (third-person singular simple present nipponizes, present participle nipponizing, simple past and past participle nipponized)

1.(transitive) To make Japanese, as to customs, culture, or style
2.(transitive) To port or migrate to Japan
3.(transitive) To translate into Japanese
4.(transitive) To make a kana spelling of (a word or name)

And a final piece of information from Wikipedia:

When the El was taken down, much of the scrap metal was sold to the Japanese. It became a common thought during World War II that some of this metal was being used in armaments against Americans.

Let's see what I can do with that.
A means of transport that inspired poets & artist, torn down, turned to scrap and sold to the Japanese only to be used against us.

How about: our own source of inspiration/ideas devalued/sold for scrap and used against us = you have to learn from your own mistakes????

Any other thought?

Wait! I've got, by George! Killing is not good -- what you put out there is going to come back and hit you in the head.

bleachededen · Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:12 pm

Thanks for the research, Saffron.

I'm not sure what I take from the poem with this new knowledge. I'll have to think about it for a while.

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