“i will wade out” ~ e. e. cummings

…checked out this entire poem today after I saw a woman with a tattoo before going to Marco Rojas yoga class which said “I will wade out…”

Although I am familar with quite a bit of E.E. Cummings’ poetry I was not familar with this particular poem, which also means I did not know the singer Bjork had sung this as a song (and I like Bjork!), which also means I had my own interpretations of the poem than what the books and others “teach” you what the work means or is about.

There are moments I am grateful I don’t know everything everyone knows.

“Sometimes prevailing interpretations disrupt/interfere with personal experience of a poem.”

I Will Wade Out

E. E. Cummings

i will wade out
                       till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
                                      Alive
                                                with closed eyes
to dash against darkness
                                      in the sleeping curves of my body
Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery
with chasteness of sea-girls
                                           Will i complete the mystery
                                           of my flesh
I will rise
              After a thousand years
lipping
flowers
            And set my teeth in the silver of the moon

Related posts:

“Before You Came” ~ Faiz Ahmed Faiz “at the midnight hour to talk with the clock” ~ Vera Pavlova Dogfish ~ Mary Oliver