Poem of the Week: r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r by e.e. cummings

Check out this poem here.

Now that you’ve seen it, notice your emotions. I have taught this poem to poets of all ages. The most common emotional response to this poem seems to be rage, followed by determination, followed by delight.

Check it out again. What words can you find? What phrases begin to appear?

This poem is a little riddle, a puzzle. Can you try to write it out, to decode?

Okay, spoiler alert below, so don’t read farther unless you’re done with the puzzle.

This poem is one of the most perfect examples ever of the way that poetic form can become its content. The poem IS the grasshopper, jumping through the field. Arriving. Becoming.

Poetry is fun, yes? What other subjects could you write about in this way? A kangaroo? An ocean wave? A hurricane, a butterfly?