Sunday, May 08, 2005

Hats Off to E.E. Cummings

Blogroll Me!

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words.
This may sound easy. It isn't.
A lot of people think or believe or know they feel -- but what's thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling -- not knowing or believing or thinking.
Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel.
Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people; but the moment you feel, you're NOBODY-BUT-YOURSELF.


***Back in December 1979, I copied this into a journal of mine. It held a lot of truth for me then; it holds a lot of truth for me today.

2 comments:

rabbi neil fleischmann said...

TS Elliot defined a poem as something that is felt before it is understood.

I like the cummings quote a lot. I once thought he wrote kid stuff, then I rewad his work, It's not kids' stuff.

You've inspired me to post a poem of his on my site. Thanks. And thanks.

treppenwitz said...

While I have always enjoyed Cummings' refreshingly unfettered use of language, capitalization and punctuation... I took the most enjoyment from his example of diversity in his life. He spent part of most days painting and part writing. He largely ignored his critics and lived/created for his own enjoyment.

Even a brief glance at his biography explains a great deal about the humor and optimism in his work.

You've chosen a good message... and a great messenger.