Celebrating the Earth with e e cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings (1894 – 1962) was an American poet known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings. In his poetry, he experiments with new forms of punctuation, capitalization and unusual use of words. As writers, we can appreciate the originality of his work.

Many of us know e e cummings as an unconventional poet, but he was also a painter who produced more than 1,600 oil paintings, drawings and watercolors. The picture for this essay is one of his many striking landscape paintings. These paintings, like his poetry, reflect a childlike wonder and intensity, and give us even more insight into this remarkable man.

Here is one of his poems that celebrates the earth. No matter how many “doting fingers” and “naughty thumbs” sully our earth, she will always answer in her own unique way. This poem is essentially a love song to earth. When we follow the path of the ecstatic poets and feel our love for earth every single day, we will naturally move toward a life that does no harm.

Here’s a word of advice when reading modern poetry – Don’t search for meaning; just read, savor and enjoy and let meaning find you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O sweet spontaneous
earth how often have
the
doting

fingers of
prurient philosophers pinched
and
poked

thee
,has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy

beauty how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees
squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
(but
true

to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover

thou answerest

them only with

spring)

~ e e cummings