Everyone Else

maggie and milly and molly and may

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

By e e cummings

As an English teacher, I always tell my students there is e e cummings and then there is everyone else. I am surprised that he is the poet I chose for this month's bit. Why not chose William Shakespeare? After all he has an April birthday. That would make sense. Many believe he is The Great Writer. I believe it. And cummings writes of simple things...

Maybe simple is good. Maybe we don't need more.

Simple images...Sunset afternoons with popsicle sticky fingers, curling mist among the trees...can mean so much.

Isn't it the simple things in life that bring the greatest pleasure.

I don't know anything better than a little voice saying, "I love you" at the end of the day. I don't know if there is a food that tastes better than a dish made by the hand of a friend. I don't know if there is a vision that is better than the view that touches our hearts.

So maybe it would be okay if we were ee cummings for a time. Simple images, simple words, simple thoughts. Simple, yet powerful!