On Language, and my favorite poem, and this JJ Hill Library wedding
When I was in high school, an English teaching assistant, knowing my love of language, handed me a photocopy of her favorite poem. And that poem, by ee cummings, has become my favorite poem, combining a pedantic love of linguistics with a knowledge that there are also more important things. I try to bring some of that balance when I write my blog posts, when I talk about my work, when I choose how to frame things.
Because weddings are both a substance to themselves- a tangible expression of our commitments and a gathering of our community. But they are also just a symbol of what we choose to view as important – we value that community. That community values those commitments. We all like a good party, and laughing, and cake.
For Marie and Adam and their JJ Hill Library wedding, I’ll just let ee cummings say it instead.
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the worldmy blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
– the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which sayswe are for each other; then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraphAnd death i think is no parenthesis
E. E. Cummings
