ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 96
but wherefore should and mimic but has been
not limitlessly happening just now
brings less as close should as certain see
if as some death less life ceases to know
day’s dawning for that man of tears and glee
that ancient artifact of just past feat
certainty that has gained its brilliance and
who ought to be a grateful child’s truth
before into wholly but partial goes
two blue oak leaves (if no one us speaks
You will observe the skillful invocation of the sonnet form, the
strong lyricism and dream-like imagery without my needing to
mention them. For myself, I am amazed at the sophisticated cyclicality implied by cummings use of sparse punctuation, creative syntax,
and fiercely Californian imagery in the final line of the poem (which
I appreciate, knowing cummings was born in Massachusetts). If I
were to advise myself, or in such a position to advise, I would suggest the close emulation of a genuine talent, and not the loose and
lazy adoration of the canon’s over-taxed stalwarts, appreciation of
whom is more habit than acclaim.
The only meaningful complaint to legitimately be lodged against
the excellence of cummings’ poem is that it bears uncanny resemblance to another poem of his, “16”, from the collection 50 Poems
(1940), and known by its first line, “)when what hugs stopping earth
than silent is.” The original is superior, to be honest. Though I have
reproduced, here, the later poem, while acknowledging its inferiority, I have done so to demonstrate that a genuine artist’s weakness,
even such a weakness as desperate, if not lazy, as line-by-line imitation, can be counted as strength in imbeciles and clowns.
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