All these years later, and an editor for almost as many years, I instantly registered irritation at the absence of capitalisation, the unspaced brackets and punctuation… then I came to:
“(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)”
— and the irritation melted away. Those three lines captivated me and in that moment the rules ceased to matter. The rhythm and the beauty moved me, and this is what a poem should do.
Sometimes editing can feel like a life of pedantry and nitpicking. We justify rules, and promote plain language. And of course there is a vast place for plain language in communicating to the citizens of the world in words they understand.
But poetry is where we can be humbled and reminded of the ways words can also minister to our souls. May I never forget that!
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
~e. e. cummings
Posted on behalf of Corinna Lines
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