Shoes which are still at the store and not sold and I am driving away at kind of an angle to the store

67

when faces called flowers float out of the ground
and breathing is wishing and wishing is having--
but keeping is downward and doubting and never
--it's april(yes,april;my darling)it's spring!
yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can fly
yes the little fish gambol as glad as can be
(yes the mountains are dancing together)

when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving--
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
--alive,we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring!
now the pretty birds hover so she and so he
now the little fish quiver so you and so i
(now the mountains are dancing,the mountains)

when more than was lost has been found has been found
and having is giving and giving is living--
but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing
--it's spring(all our night becomes day)o,it's spring!
all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky
all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea
(all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)

- E. E. Cummings, Xaipe

I figured that my poem wanted a little explanation, and I hadn't posted an April poem yet. (And you must agree it needs to be done before May comes around.)

Anyway.

This is why I love Cummings, and this is why when I wrote 'Sonnet for Edward' I made it so much about Spring so much about love. Aside from the incredible images ("faces called flowers", "the pretty birds hover so she and so he", "all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea") the entire poem has a feeling of unity and whole-ness that border perfection. They say that Cummings' style implies a spontaneity, an improvisation almost, but improvisation can never yield a cohesive whole like this poem. Look at the way the rhymes, though far enough apart to generally go unheard, draw the three stanzas together: ground-sound-found in the first lines; fly/be-he/i-sky-sea in the descriptions of the animals. The way he builds his images from the first stanza to the last--both in the breathing-wishing-having-giving-living progression and in the rising action of the birds, fish, and mountains--and arrays them around the Spring of his love just get me.

So yeah, Spring equals love and it's a nice thing. Stay tuned for another Spring/love poem in May.