Sunday, February 17, 2008

number 71

Poetry was meant to be read aloud.

And so, at the end of it all, nearing one a.m., with eight girls piled onto my king-size bed, I read this:

stand with your lover on the ending earth-

and while a( huge which by which huger than
huge )whoing sea leaps to greenly hurl snow

suppose we could not love,dear; imagine

ourselves like living neither nor dead these
( or many thousand hearts which don't and dream
or many million minds which sleep and move )
blind sands,at pitiless the mercy of

time time time time time

-how fortunate are you and i,whose home
is timelessness;we who have wandered down
from fragrant mountains of eternal now

to frolic in such mysteries as birth
and death a day( or maybe even less )

e.e. cummings

Read it. Aloud. To someone. Now.

8 comments:

Jo A. T.B. said...

Hello Suesun,

I agree Poetry should be read aloud, a very inspirational one by Cummings. I also caught your video one of you mom, how brave and graceful she speaks of a very
hard subject. Brought tears to my eyes, for I just lost my mother almost two years ago. She looks so wonderful for being a cancer patient, and a very talented speaker. I'm adding you to my links, my blog is in it's beginning stages, want to hook up with some good writers! Really like your blog! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Whoing sea? What do you think was meant by that?

suesun said...

I guess it's better than a "whoring sea"....?

Thanks, Jo. Sorry about your mom...

Maria said...

cummings always makes me feel as if i am in on a great little secret

Kate said...

Sue, I scrolled down to read some older entries, because I haven't been able to visit for a few days. You teach ESL! I loved the student blogs, and I read and commented on a few stories. What level are the students who are doing that? I want to set up something similar here as well.

suesun said...

Kate- my students are at the Pre-GED level, TABE testing at 6.0-8.9 reading. Most of them are second language learners, but too high to be eligible for ESL. Their speaking and writing skills are still behind their reading skills. Basically, I feel like I'm teaching a very advanced ESL class most of the time.....

Thanks for your comments on the student blogs. I'd love to have some of your students comment as well. It's real life reading and writing; can't think of anything better.

Email me and we can chat some more about setting up student blogs if you want: ssdoula@yahoo.com

eleKtrofly said...

poetry is meant to be read aloud, i like that.
the bard never wrote his words down, but memorized and recited it.

eleKtrofly said...

i realize that when i say the bard, it may be confused with "the bard" as in shakespeare. i meant that bards in general didn't write.