-- dat crazy poet whasisname da
he just shook his head
yumember I nevmember
-- ah babes poet
-- yahyah
-- minute lemme member
-- yahyah
-- babe ahshelove e e wha was dat
-- yah cummings e e dat
crazy poet
roet sumptin bout a lef ina tree
n
babe she wenoff
all nahsens
-- make our grl crazy
-- she wenoff nahsens
wha wees posta do
deed wha
wees coud
eneda nahsens
he was too shocked
to refute her mumble what do you say to a woman or a man who can barely
speak
say about her daughter
what
they did to their daughter
he wasnt
sure together they knew the difference between right
and wrong
they did
and what they did was the storys end
lef ina tree
cummings
it was from his poem as freedom is a
breakfastfood
as freedom is a breakfastfood was bracketed not parenthesized sharp corners to
rounds
the refrain “long enough and
just so long” runs through three stanza and works its way
one line at a time
deeper
first stanza line four
second
line five
third
six
then in the
fourth stanza following “deeds cannot dream what dreams can do”
line five
it reverses
its descending trend
“time
is a tree” – open parenthesis – “this life one leaf” – close parenthesis
as freedom is a breakfastfood
was her condemnation sentence execution
enduring penance
when they let her out into the
yard she ran up to one of the their trees
and she began counting as she was taught
how many leaves she could see
per limb
per branch
ten
fingers
ten toes
Im
like a tree she laughed
limbs branches fingers toes
she wanted to count the lives
in the trees in her backyard
she said when she had finished
counting them she was going to give them names
families
and
family names
relations
boys
and girls mommies and daddies grammas and grampas aunts and uncles
she didnt have a concept for
greatgrammas or greatgrampas
or the while of second and third
cousins
the
extent to who she might name was unable to exceed what her own family did not
have
her parents said she was
driving them crazy with paper and pencils and talleys and
crazy with fear for
her safety as she climbed up higher and higher
putting
herself at risk
straddling narrower and narrower limbs
she wasnt satisfied
their warnings fell deaf in her
ears
what other decision could they
make
even the Church could not inform
them
help them with their willful child who seemed doomed to fall from the
crown of a tree
and cripple
or kill herself
Pray
the
Church offered
Piety
Pray to God for her safety
Pray
for a way they might be able to secure her safety save her from what could be
terrible injury
or death
she was headstrong child the
Priest confessed
intractable
God came to her mother
and into her mouth He put
cummings words
the very words that incited her daughter
“deeds cannot dream what dreams
can do”
she should dream her mother said God said
they cut off the fingers
between her thumbs and little fingers
all
her toes
Praise be to God Jesus Christ
2359, Wednesday,
30 7. 14
