E.E. Cummings Reinterpreted for the Tweeness in Me

I love me some E.E. (Cummings, that is). Most especially, I love his poetry about love. The political and less sentimental works are great, but the romantic ones make me giddy with their sweetness. Perhaps this is an oversimplification of a great artist's work, and if it is, I apologize to his ghost, as well as Marion Morehouse's ghost. Perhaps, though, he'd enjoy the simple pleasures we can derive from his writing as much as we do.

As of late, I have been wanting to tattoo every line all over my body, reinterpreted in the most sickeningly sweet way possible. Don't worry, though. I don't have any tattoos yet, so I am obviously capable of tamping down my compulsions. The origin of this desire lies with the idea of a wedding tattoo that has been simmering for nearly 3.5 years now as we continually procrastinate. My friend soul mate, Sarah, read aloud "I Carry Your Heart with Me," at the wedding of husbasaur and dactyl, as we shall henceforth be named to protect the innocent (really, that's just how we refer to each other). I know that the act of having this poem read at my wedding was fairly unoriginal, but it was inspired by a shared love of Mr. Cummings, and we found it apropos as a couple who spent most of our budding relationship separated by 2,000 miles of Texas, Alabama, and the like. We really felt as if we carried pieces of each other across the distance. Okay, I did, anyway. There's usually no telling if the husbasaur is capable of sentiment.

The wedding tattoo hasn't happened because I was supposed to design it, and I am by no means an artist. With the advent of obsession, though, I've tried to generate some ideas upon which a tattoo artist can improve. Initially, husbausar wanted a heart shaped box with a heart inside. I tried that, but the result always looks like a cheesy Walmart marketing photo for V Day, or some semi-creepy Nirvana reference. I've always found text tattoos endearing, so the most recent incarnation is a texty heart with more text and a couple cutesy hearts inside: the idea is a much more attractive and shapely typographic rendering of the following, only right side up, and minus the hatchy hearts:

Husbasaur was minorly offended by this idea because he believes that E.E. Cummings was a stickler for form, and that he would not want me to replace the word heart with a sketch. While attempting to research this, I discovered this bit of discussion about e.e. cummings vs. E.E. Cummings by scholar Norman Friedman, and as a result I am somewhat convinced that the poet would not mind my reinterpretation for the sake of my tattoo's cuteness factor. What do you think? Would you promptly vomit on my wrist if you saw a more-attractive rendition of the above picture emblazoned there?

My other favorite Cummings quotes for potential tattoos include, "I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing/ than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance," which has been my standard favorite quote for many years, as well as, "may my heart always be open to little/ birds who are the secrets of living." In the latter quote, I think interpretation of the line break could lead to an interesting discussion of whether he wanted to be open to little birds, or simply to little, but that doesn't stop me from hoping that I can use the quote as wall decor if ever I spawn a little girl, whose name may be Wren or Aderyn, both words for little birds! I'm not the first to have this idea, as obviated by this artwork available on Etsy from rawartletterpress (interestingly, she also doctored up the form). 

$18.00 at rawartletterpress on Etsy

The same little birds quote introduces the adorable picture book Little Bird by Germano Zullo and Albertine, which appeared among our new books at the library last Friday, and which probably inspired this post all together (yep-- it's about books somehow. Thanks, Mika, for suggesting a read). 

Here it is at Good Reads

The good news is that we met a tattoo artist who hosts LasVegas Mystery Adventures by night, and he happens to have been an art history professor before the tattoos and mystery adventures. He told us he enjoys cognitive tattoos, so maybe he can help me hash it all out, or simply tell me I'm an idiot!