Wednesday, April 4, 2012

i like my body

i like my body when it is with your

body. It is so quite new a thing.

Muscles better and nerves more.

i like your body. i like what it does,

i like its hows. i like to feel the spine

of your body and its bones, and the trembling

-firm-smooth ness and which i will

again and again and again

kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,

i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz

of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes

over parting flesh… And eyes big love-crumbs,



and possibly i like the thrill



of under me you so quite new
 
~ee cummings
 
There's something about this poem that always draws me in.  I like the sensuality of it. 
 
Kate and I went out on Sunday to find things for Em's birthday (which was Monday but we'll celebrate it on Easter when we're all together) and were discussing things we were forced to read in high school and how tearing them apart didn't deepen our understanding of the poem/play/story but made us detest it.  Sometimes you have to just READ it.  Aloud.  Just enjoy the feeling of the words and the emotions evoked.  I don't care what the symbolism is (never have).  I just like the sounds of the words and how they make me feel.  More people would read and enjoy poetry if we allowed them to come to the sounds and then tried to find the meanings beneath the words.
 
Do we have to understand everything?  Can't we sometimes just enjoy it? 

4 comments:

Saren Johnson said...

Sometimes understanding removes the magic.

amy said...

Poetry should always be read aloud. I can often get the aloud-sounding voice in my head, but that took lots of poetry reading, I think. Poetry on the page is such a dead thing compared to poetry out loud.

Sometimes the understanding is visceral, and it's hard to explain what we just *know.* But other times, getting really deep into a piece, living with it, even, opens up so much.

I always enjoy your choice of poems, Donna Lee.

roxie said...

If we have to understand everything, then I'm screwed, because I don't understand half of it. I just listen for the music.

Sheepish Annie said...

Most of the time,understanding stuff just makes me cranky!

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