l(a

l(a

le
af
fa

ll

s)
one
l

iness

-------------------
a poem by EE Cummings

I started my humanities class last night. During our reading assignment I came across the above poem. It took me a little while to make sense of it, then I had the "...oh!" factor come in. I really like it. I printed it for my son and daughter. He struggled with it for a while, but eventually figured it out (I won't say he "got" it, but he understood it). I had to explain it to my daughter, she had absolutely no clue.

Don't read beyond here if you haven't figured it out yet. Let it sink in and see what it is first.

This is an unusual type of poem because it really is only one word with an embedded action. But the form and layout of the poem makes it special. It reads:

l(a leaf falls)onely = a leaf falls, lonely = lonely, a leaf falls

The leaf begins to fall at the top and gently, slowly wafts it's way down to rest on the ground below. The use of the lowercase 'l' is no coincidence that it's the same as the number one '1'. In the original presentation it was the first poem in the book. Ones appear throughout indicating how we are all alone in the end. We are all leaves that eventually fall from the tree.

So I somehow survived the weekend and my first class. By Sunday my constant watching of the clock and counting down how many hours and minutes remained before school started back was bordering on obsessive. I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack over all of it. John and I talked about it and I confessed my fears. That school would start and that would be the end of "me" and all that would remain would be school. That any hope of he and I pursuing a sexual adventure would have to wait until school was out at the end of Summer.

He asked me "Do I need to get the flogger out of the closet and beat you with it? I will if I have to!" LOL! That was what I needed! (not the flogging, but the communication) We cuddled and talked and I felt much better.

Yesterday I avoided all clocks until it was time to go to class. And I actually enjoyed the class, in truth I knew I would. But I was up until almost midnight with my reading assignment and still have another chapter to read before Wednesday, and I have another class tonight. John and the kids all went to bed before me last night as I stayed up reading. I am in class now, but the class is not me. I'll make it through somehow. And Pride weekend is coming up and I truly intend to enjoy that!

Peace and Long Life,

PaunFarr