Tulips & Chimneys (eBook)

Poet Edward Estlin Cummings (1894–1962), a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Harvard University graduate, is best known for his rejection of traditional forms. As e. e. cummings he conducted radical experiments with form, spelling, syntax, and punctuation that endeared him to poetry lovers of all ages.

TULIPS EPITHALAMION 1 OF NICOLETTE 6 SONGS i (thee will i praise between those rivers whose 7 ii when life is quite through with 9 iii Always before your voice my soul 9 iv Thy fingers make early flowers of 11 v All in green went my love riding 12 vi Where’s Madge then, 13 vii Doll’s boy ’s asleep 14 viii cruelly,love 15 ix when god lets my body be 15 PUELLA MEA 16 CHANSON INNOCENTES i in Just- 24 ii hist whist 25 iii little tree 26 iv why did you go 27 v Tumbling-hair picker of buttercups violets 28 ORIENTALE i i spoke to thee 28 ii my love 29 iii listen 30 iv unto thee i 32 v lean candles hunger in 33 vi the emperor 34 AMORES i your little voice Over the wires came leaping 37 ii in the rain- 38 iii there is a 39 iv consider O 40 v as is the sea marvelous 41 vi into the smiting 42 vii if i believe 42 viii the glory is fallen out of 44 ix i like 45 x after five 46 xi O Distinct 47 LA GUERRE i Humanity i love you 48 ii earth like a tipsy 49 iii the bigness of cannon 50 iv little ladies more 51 v O sweet spontaneous 53 IMPRESSIONS i Lady of Silence 54 ii the sky a silver 54 iii writhe and 55 iv the hills 56 v stinging 57 vi the sky 57 was vii i was considering how 58 viii between green mountains 59 ix the hours rise up putting off stars and it is 60 x i will wade out till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers 61 PORTRAITS i of my 62 ii being 63 iii as usual i did not find him in cafes,the more dissolute atmosphere 63 iv the skinny voice 64 v Babylon slim 65 vi the dress was a suspicious madder,importing the cruelty of roses. 66 vii of evident invisibles 66 viii the 67 ix ta 69 x it’s just like a coffin’s 69 xi between nose-red gross 70 xii i walked the boulevard 71 xiii 5 72 xiv the young 73 xv one April dusk the 75 xvi between the breasts 76 xvii but the other 77 xviii inthe,exquisite; 78 xix the rose 79 xx spring omnipotent goddess thou dost 80 xxi Buffalo Bill’s 81 xxii Cleopatra built 81 xxiii Picasso 85 xxiv conversation with my friend is particularly 86 xxv my mind is 87 xxvi the waddling 88 xxvii her 89 xxviii raise the shade 90 xxix somebody knew Lincoln somebody Xerxes 91 POST IMPRESSIONS i windows go orange in the slowly. 92 ii beyond the brittle towns asleep 93 iii the moon is hiding in 93 iv riverly is a flower 94 v any man is wonderful 95 vi into the strenuous briefness 95 vii at the head of this street a gasping organ is waving moth-eaten 96 viii i was sitting in mcsorley’s. outside it was New York and beautifully snowing. 97 ix at the ferocious phenomenon of 5 o’clock i find myself gently decompos- 99 x SNO 100 xi i am going to utter a tree,Nobody 101CHIMNEYS SONNETS—REALITIES i the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls 105 ii when i am in Boston, i do not speak. 105 iii goodby Betty,don’t remember me 106 iv ladies and gentlemen this little girl 106 v by god i want above fourteenth 107 vi when you rang at Dick Mid’s Place 108 vii a fragrant sag of fruit distinctly grouped. 108 viii irreproachable ladies firmly lewd 109 ix nearer:breath of my breath:take not thy tingling 110 x when thou hast taken thy last applause,and when 110 xi god pity me whom(god distinctly has) 111 xii “kitty”. sixteen,5´1˝,white,prostitute. 111 xiii it started when Bill’s chip let on to 112 xiv she sits dropping on a caret of clenched arms 113 xv unnoticed woman from whose kind large flesh 113 xvi twentyseven bums give a prostitute the once 114 xvii of this wilting wall the colour drub 114 xviii whereas by dark really released,the modern 115 xix my girl’s tall with hard long eyes 115 xx Dick Mid’s large bluish face without eyebrows 116 xxi life boosts herself rapidly at me 117 SONNETS—UNREALITIES i and what were roses. Perfume?for i do 117 ii when unto nights of autumn do complain 118 iii a connotation of infinity 119 iv Thou in whose swordgreat story shine the deeds 119 v when my sensational moments are no more 120 vi god gloats upon Her stunning flesh. Upon 121 vii O Thou to whom the musical white spring 121 viii when the proficient poison of sure sleep 122 ix this is the garden:colours come and go, 123 x it is at moments after i have dreamed 123 xi it may not always be so;and i say 124 xii I have seen her a stealthily frail 124 xiii if learned darkness from our searched world 125 xiv who’s most afraid of death?thou art of him 125 xv come nothing to my comparable soul 126 xvi when citied day with the sonorous homes 127 xvii will suddenly trees leap from winter and will 127 xviii a wind has blown the rain away and blown 128 SONNETS—ACTUALITIES i when my love comes to see me it’s 129 ii it is funny,you will be dead some day. 129 iii i have loved,let us see if that’s all. 130 iv the mind is its own beautiful prisoner. 131 v even a pencil has fear to 131 vi let’s live suddenly without thinking 132 vii yours is the music for no instrument 133 viii fabulous against ,a,fathoming jelly 133 ix by little accurate saints thickly which tread 134 x a thing most new complete fragile intense, 135 xi autumn is:that between there and here 135 xii my love is building a building 136 xiii perhaps it is to feel strike 136 xiv the ivory performing rose 137 xv my naked lady framed 138 xvi i have found what you are like 138 xvii —G O N splashes-sink 139 xviii my sonnet is A light goes on in 140 xix (the phonograph’s voice like a keen spider skipping 141 xx you asked me to come:it was raining a little, 141 xxi (let us tremble)a personal radiance sits 142 xxii utterly and amusingly i am pash 143 xxiii notice the convulsed orange inch of moon 143 xxiv and this day it was Spring....us 144