O pen May 23

Love Poem BY DORA MALECH
E.E. Cummings:
From ViVa, III snowflake
Love is : (#39 of 50 poems) hear Cummings read it here: and listen
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/11427
Love is the only every God (#38 of 50 poems)
love is more thicker than forget (#42 of 50 poems)
old age sticks (95 poems #57)
In the rain (set to music by Hilary Tann) (from Tulips: section called “Amores” 6th of 10 sections containing 11 poems.

What does a Love Poem mean? Today we read through contemporary poet Dora Malech who captured for some the whirlwind breathlessness that takes away any words, yet uses the cliches of her time. Martin reminded us to think about what a poem invokes in the reader.
For him, not the magic of what cannot be expressed. I read the forward to "is 5".


This is not like his dedication to various publishers in "No Thanks" where names of publishers are put in the shape of a cup, but rather teases the reader to go beyond mere words or considerations of technique. He goes back to the poet as "maker" and how the images he makes compete with each other. He also extols the verb as the way to rejoice in "an irresistible truth" immediately cloaked in parentheses and referred to "ONE" the first of the five-fingered volume.

Today's discussion addressed the wordlessness of being in love.. the show-offness of art, the way words can be painted on the page to make us feel one way vs another and an appreciation of love as thickness everywhere.

More a general discussion on cummings than on the poems but a better sense of appreciation of Cummings.