Poem of the Week

[in Just-]

By E.E. Cummings

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

***

Hey, it's that thing! That thing that I used to do every Friday!

With the days of spring officially upon us, it seemed a good time to return to the Cummings well. Always one of my favorites, E.E. Cummings' best springtime poem touches on everything significant about this season. There's both a sense of revelry and one of dread in this poem, which features a wonderfully damp and rejuvinated world now inhabited by boys and girls at play... and an almost-predatory toy vendor. Creepy.