Depth & Death in One Sentence. A Poem.
l
(al
ea
fa
ll
s)
on
el
in
es
s.
l(a leaf falls)oneliness.
The layout of ee cumming's shortest poem is presented as such. Vertically descending.
Though the shortest poem, it probably evokes the most amount of discourse, discussions, dissections and definitions.
Obsessed with using letters in lower case, including his name, ee cummings laid use of letters (and parenthesis's) putting them to great utility in the arrangement for optimum effect in serving the idea and the message/s intended.
What is the meaning of this one-sentenced poem? Best described as, a falling leaf interrupting the word loneliness after the first letter lowercase 'l'. To read l()oneliness
For me, it's a diss on the word 'loneliness' metamorphosing the word to 'oneliness' when we realise that a person's life, best represented by a single leaf that one day must fall to the ground. So to feel lonely is to miss the point that it is in our 'oneliness' or oneness with the all that completes the whole.
We are never alone in this cosmos, we are always in oneness with it.
And once we come to this realisation, we no longer wallow in loneliness but unite in 'Oneliness' with the cosmos.
Loneliness comes when all our days are spent in self-centredness.
The very activity of self-centredness produces loneliness.
It is narrowing the whole vast extraordinariness of life into one small 'me'.
Amen.
Posts
