E.e.
Y
O
U
r E-X-P-e-(r-I-M-e-N-T

(I) s un alive

by Ross T. Runfola

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“Nothing is quite as easy as using words like some-
body else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all the
time-and when we do it we are not poets.”

E.E. Cummings

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Lay it on me E.E.
no more hide and seek poetry
literati say your poems are avant garde
I say the only thing that is clear from reading your poetry
is a disdain for the common man.

defenders claim your experiments in linguistic possibilities
create a clear distinction between ordinary speech and poetry
when it really trumpets a brazen class distinction.

poetry should be written in the language people actually use
if poetry is not accessible
it is merely a selfish exercise
don’t get me wrong E.E.
I like poems that ignore norms and express individuality
but poems should talk to and not at people
so poems open hearts as well as minds.

E.E., your playing with language and space
is a smoke screen for a lack of a social philosophy
and a fear that the reader will have a light into your soul.

E.E., I am not telling you to lower your standards
but people’s lives, even your own E.E. are all different
yet all commonplace.
so I was wondering E.E., if you write a poem, and no one
understands it, does it exist?

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