Wednesday, March 05, 2008

PTSW : finding ourselves

I just plain forgot to post this on Monday. So why not a Wednesday Poem...

One of my very favorite poets is E. E. Cummings. On the surface one may think of Cummings as a completely incomprehensible or even nonsensical poet. He plays with words, and punctuation, and capitalization so. But there is very real meaning behind his poem puzzles. There is usually a bit of a story and a lot of traditional rhyme and rhythm and assonance and alliteration. This is one I have often used with my students. The world, after all, is very small, as any student of astronomy knows. And there is nothing so enormous as alone. And we do, indeed, quite often find ourselves in the sea, and in the woods, and by the pond, and with the bees.

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- e. e. cummings


___


Previous Poems to Start the Week:
Snow DayOde to Things
A Visit from St. NicholasMiceAll In a WordThe SpiderThe Eagle
Some PeopleCustard the DragonStatistics 101The Spider and the Fly
Back to SchoolThe Inchcape RockOgden NashTrash
Hearts, Like DoorsCasey at the BatAlways a RoseHome at Last
Bag of ToolsCarpe DiemPoems About PoetryMan's Best Friend
Spelling is Tough Stough!Blue MarbleTacks, Splinters, Apples and Stars
Oh, Captain, My Captain!MetaphorIntroducion to Poetry
Loveliest of TreesFlax-Golden TalesThe Dinosaurs Are Not All Dead
Owl PelletsMummy Slept LateJust My Size
The Kindest Things I KnowMiles to GoLove that Brother
Oh, Frabjous Day!

Other Posts about Children's Literature:

A Teacher's Life

You can read some of my own efforts at poetry here.
And then there's Alien Invasion.

A weblog dedicated to Poetry for Children.
Watch Sonja Cole's reviews of children's books at Bookwink.com.
The PBS series Favorite Poem Project

No comments:

Post a Comment