Antidote to dullness

 I was reading the May 18 2026 print issue of The Christian Science Monitor. Pages 40-41 feature a poem by e.e. cummings (1894-1962) and an essay by Todd R. Nelson. 

The poem is just wonderful. Here it is:

in Just-

spring     when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles     far      and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's 

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far     and     wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump rope and

it's

spring

and

    the

      goat-footed

balloonMan     whistles

far

and wee

In the accompanying essay, Todd Nelson describes his first encounter with this poem in the seventh grade. He writes: "I look back on that poem as a starting line. I heard the call to poetry... I began to understand that a poet is describing the world, experience, or concepts in a way that antidotes dullness, commonness, and indifference; that stretches the possibilities of language; that sings and beckons. A poem is a discrete vessel of clarity and understanding."

Have a puddle-wonderful day!

Julie Swannell