ViVa

Fresh and candid, but turns earthy, defiant, and romantic, E. E. Cummings’ poems celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, the need to protest the dehumanizing force of organizations, and the exuberant power of love. First published in 1931, ViVa contains four of E. E. Cummings’ most experimental poems as well as some of his most memorable. The volume includes such no-famous celebrations as “i sing of Olaf glad and big” and “if there are any heavens my mother will (all be herself) have,” along with such favorites as “Space being (don’t forget to remember) Curved,” “a clown’s smirk in the skull of a baboon,” and “somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond.”