cambers

... ee Cummings, huh?

I knew this loser back in college (who was from Dallas) who worshipped Cummings' ass. Used to read it to chicks to try and get laid (and, not suprisingly, it worked).

I was always more of an Eliot, Poe, Shelley, Byron guy myself... but they're a lot darker and more serious I think than Cummings is.

But have fun in Tallahassee!

whoa!

Yes, yes.

I totally agree!
The form in Poe and Shelley and the like does become monotonous!
Cummings was horribly innovative in the way, say, in which Ginsberg was.
One of the reasons I admire Burroughs (William S., not Edgar Rice) is due to the fact that he single-handedly reshaped our concept of the modern novel with Naked Lunch and they tried to put him jail (in Massachusets) claiming it was obscene and pornographic! They coulda had him in jail too, 'cept that Ginsberg and Norman Mailer (the fuckin' man!) showed up in his defense and represented!

But, yes, Cummings' form is exceptional.
It will take the man two pages to say a paragraph that, with contemporary poetry, would be a solid Faulkner-like paragraph of tedium.
So, yes, I agree that Cummings was viciously innovative and precise. I just have bad association with him that stems from my experiances with a particularly unstable woman.


Have you ever read the poetry book Scrimmage of Appetite by Jon Davis?

I studied under this guy (Davis) when I did my undergrad in New Mexico and he is amazing!
Check him out if you get a chance!

And keep in touch!