[little tree] by E.E. Cummings

I’m going to spend another chilly 3 hours tonight volunteering on the Christmas tree lot for the Downtown Optimists so this little poem about a little tree by E.E. Cummings felt in order. Plus, any of you who know me know that I am all for talking to the trees. Enjoy!

[little tree]

by E.E. Cummings

little tree

little silent Christmas tree

you are so little

you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest

and were you very sorry to come away?

see          i will comfort you

because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark

and hug you safe and tight

just as your mother would,

only don't be afraid

look          the spangles

that sleep all the year in a dark box

dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,

the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms

and i'll give them all to you to hold

every finger shall have its ring

and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed

you'll stand in the window for everyone to see

and how they'll stare!

oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands

and looking up at our beautiful tree

we'll dance and sing

"Noel Noel"

Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176724

A Christmas Song by Norman Williams

It's been a long, long time since I've posted. If you have any awareness of time, you know this. I won't bother you with excuses but lately wedding planning, applying to school, and work has taken precedence over poetry and blogging. However, the holiday season always re-energizes me with the hope that I am more talented than I give myself credit for the other 11 months of the year and yes, I can do it all. It's a bit of a disillusioned state fueled by sugar cookies and eggnog but let's run with it and see if I can keep to my own motto this holiday season and make time for poetry. We'll start off with this incredible poem by Norman Williams. I won't say much on it other than I'm mesmerized by how cold it and uneasy it leaves me. I love the juxtaposition of warm fuzzy Christmas songs (which aren't that warm and fuzzy on closer look) and then the stark, haunting images he lays out. Let yourself digest this poem at your own pace. Enjoy!

A Christmas Song
By Norman Williams

                    Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat
                    Please put a penny in the old man’s hat.
                    If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do.
                    If you haven’t got a ha’penny, Gold bless you.

Tonight the wide, wet flakes of snow
Drift down like Christmas suicides,
Layering the eaves and boughs until
The landscape seems transformed, as from
A night of talk or love. I’ve come
From cankered ports and railroad hubs
To winter in a northern state:
Three months of wind and little light.
Wood split, flue cleaned, and ashes hauled,
I am now proof against the cold
And make a place before the stove.
Mired fast in middle age, possessed
Of staved-in barn and brambled lot,
I think of that fierce-minded woman
Whom I loved, painting in a small,
Unheated room, or of a friend,
Sharp-ribbed from poverty, who framed
And fitted out his house by hand
And writes each night by kerosene.
I think, that is, of others who
Withdrew from commerce and the world
To work for joy instead of gain.
O would that I could gather them
This Yuletide, and shower them with coins.

“A Christmas Song” from One Unblinking Eye by Norman Williams