EE Cummings: Sex and Cars
EE Cummings’ poems engage less intellect, and appeal more to pure emotion. His writings are the closest thing to directly translated feelings that I think I’ve read yet. It makes for a much harder read than a grammatically and structurally correct piece, because within a couple of words he has begun to express his feelings by jamming together words, or breaking them apart with punctuation or lines or deliberately exaggerating pauses. You begin to feel the writing, experience it as an emotion rather than just another poem.
I think "she being Brand" is about a car...but also most definitely about sex. If you sit and think, isn’t being a virgin a lot driving a stick-shift car for the first time? You have to learn where all the buttons are and what reactions you are going to get with particular buttons. You have to learn what each feeling or tremble means; you have to know what works and what doesn’t. It all comes with practice and repetition, in both instances. The more you drive a stick, the better acclimated you will become. Muscle memory will kick in and shifting becomes easier and smoother. This is, hopefully, the same case for sex. The more you do it, the better you become. In both cases, the beginning will be jerky and uncomfortable, but with time, it all becomes “old hat”.
Cummings’ word choice is also an indicator that the poem contains an easily discerned duality. Words such as stiff, cranked, slammed, and others just show what the poet’s true intention was when composing this piece. Hyphenation and spacing are used to show greater emphasis on certain parts, forcing the reader to focus on what is being said.
“Brand new” is a clear indication to my warped mind that EE Cummings is dealing with the duality of this issue. Sex and cars are easily linked if a perverted enough mind sets its will in forging a relationship. Perhaps the poem is only about a car, but Freud would say that subconsciously it is all about sex. You can't help but think about that when you read the poem aloud. Why else would EE Cummings leave the "Oooo's" and "Divinity" and "tremB" at the end of some sentences? All of these things indicate sexual pleasure and an experience of bliss.
I think "she being Brand" is about a car...but also most definitely about sex. If you sit and think, isn’t being a virgin a lot driving a stick-shift car for the first time? You have to learn where all the buttons are and what reactions you are going to get with particular buttons. You have to learn what each feeling or tremble means; you have to know what works and what doesn’t. It all comes with practice and repetition, in both instances. The more you drive a stick, the better acclimated you will become. Muscle memory will kick in and shifting becomes easier and smoother. This is, hopefully, the same case for sex. The more you do it, the better you become. In both cases, the beginning will be jerky and uncomfortable, but with time, it all becomes “old hat”.
Cummings’ word choice is also an indicator that the poem contains an easily discerned duality. Words such as stiff, cranked, slammed, and others just show what the poet’s true intention was when composing this piece. Hyphenation and spacing are used to show greater emphasis on certain parts, forcing the reader to focus on what is being said.
“Brand new” is a clear indication to my warped mind that EE Cummings is dealing with the duality of this issue. Sex and cars are easily linked if a perverted enough mind sets its will in forging a relationship. Perhaps the poem is only about a car, but Freud would say that subconsciously it is all about sex. You can't help but think about that when you read the poem aloud. Why else would EE Cummings leave the "Oooo's" and "Divinity" and "tremB" at the end of some sentences? All of these things indicate sexual pleasure and an experience of bliss.
posted by Brian at 12:40 a.m.
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