E.E. Cummings Cake: Sexy and Scrumptious

         E.E. Cummings is to poetry as red velvet or chocolate is to cake, the sexy version. Edward Estlin Cummings, born on October 14, 1894, is mostly known for his radical experimentation “with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures.” He also attained great popularity for the playful mode of his poetry and his attention to subjects such as war and, of course, SEX. In cake terms, Cummings' poem "may i feel said he" is reminiscent of perhaps a sweet German triple-chocolate cake with a fudge icing and strawberries abound. Needless to say, this poem is sexy and scandalous. It has bad written all over it, just like chocolate cake. The poem describes the actual process of adultery being acted. His message is that one action leads to another and everything comes down to choice. Will you choose to be unfaithful? Will you choose to eat yet another piece of that sinfully scrumptious cake? It's all about the choices we make, good or bad.
        Many of the poems written by Cummings are of sexual and romantic love that delight and provoke. A collection of his such poetry was published, fittingly entitled Erotic Poems. This collection includes several poems with illustrations (by him) that are sure to get your pulse racing. Cummings' highly provocative poetry won over his young readers who were able to relate to the informality and naivete found within his poems. However, he was popular among older readers as well. A highly celebrated poet of all ages, Cummings was awarded several honors and awards including the Academy of American Poets Fellowship in 1950, two Guggenheim Fellowships in 1933, and the Bollingen Prize in Poetry in 1957. Having created a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression, E.E. Cummings was one of the most widely-read poets of his generation. He died on September 3, 1962. However, his wonderfully exotic and boundary-pushing poems will live on forever. Suffice it to say, the red velvet/chocolate cakes his poems are compared to, in all their lavishness, will not.

Passion, Pleasure, Pain.

You weaken my cries for stability

You clear my soul

You overthrow any insecurity

You make me whole

You crush me slowly

You puncture my heart

leaving it lifeless

remaining in parts

But...

You love so beautifully

You claim my existing

Without You, Pain's unceasing

Lifeline decreasing

You're killing me softly

with with all of me that you gain

Don't know where i would be

without you Passion

Your Pleasure,

Your Pain.

The balance of passion, pleasure, and pain in a relationship is absolutely vital in my opinion. I feel as though these three power houses word cohesively to maintain a strong relationship between two people. If there is no pain, then your passion isn't strong enough. The thought of even sharing your mate with someone else should cause you pain to some degree. If your have no pleasure, then your passion isn't strong enough. I have learned from personal experiences that if you aren't excited to see the one you are with, if it doesn't pleasure you to be around that person, then there is no passion there. Therefore, one should reconsider the reasons why they are with that person. The title of this post was inspired by the contemporary singer Trey Songz. His songs are basically about the strengths, weaknesses and the intensity of love in relationships. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPd4Qp-Pdew&ob=av2e. I believe that loving someone is one of the hardest things someone can do. Maintaining that love is even harder. Maybe considering reasons for being in love would make the whole process a piece of cake!

Its a Hard Knock Life

Its a hard knock life and was a tough one for one of my favorite poets Dorothy Paker. She started writing many poems at a young age and did not even get to finish school, being a high-school dropout at age 14. However this did not stop her one bit from becoming a successful poet, hence the fact that her childhood was a very unhappy one. Her mother and step-mother died when she was young; her uncle, Martin Rothschild went down on the Titanic in 1912; and her father had died the following year. In the year of 1914 she sold her first poem to Vanity fair and took an editorial position at Vogue. Even though she had such a harsh life following all the deaths she lived a successful life but did suffer from depression and alcoholism and attempted suicide.

Parker is one of my favorite poets without a doubt. She uses Parallelismus Membrorum in which she evokes many different emotions by the different words and phrases that she uses. An example of this would be the poem "Resume". This is a direct connection of her life, she uses deep imagery by using these powerful words to allow to reader to feel a certain way. This is a very strong poem especially because she is talking about suicide, and the various ways that one can take their life through this poem. When she states "razors pain you... gas smells awful: you might as well live". She is telling her readers that she has been through a very tough life. She describes the pain that she's been through with the razors and says that even though even though her life has been a huge downfall she lived through it and was successful. Her poems give me the chills because of how she writes. I feel like i am viewing her life through her eyes because of how vivd she makes her poems.

Another example would be "The Lady's Reward" because of the rhyme scheme that she sets up. She does such a great job with this because she is able to give the reader a snapshot of her life within this poem. I feel that i can relate to this poem because of a specific line within the poem which was to "never speak of the tears that burn your cheek". This shows me that no matter how much something is bothering you, don't be yourself around other people. It just makes me feel like i can relate because sometimes one doesn't want to express themselves about what is going on in their life because it is just to painful to tell to other people. However i feel that there is hope to let certain people know about what is going on so it just doesn't build up inside and become worse. She makes me feel this way because i don't want to have the same thoughts about leaving this earth before my time.

I have to say that Parkers is a very powerful poet in general because of what she is able to express through her poems. She evokes several feelings and even though she had a "hard knock life" she was able to be successful. Everyone has rough times in life and nothing is ever perfect. However it all gets better in time.