Sunday, January 11, 2009

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11Apologies to the late E.E. CUMMINGS for the changed page breaks in his poem. I couldn't figure out how to get BLOGGER to do what I wanted it to do... The Buffalo Bill poem came to my mind as I sat in the choir for a memorial concert for Bob Henderson, a fine musician, a church organist. Of course, Cummings is talking about much more than Buffalo Bill, and his poem is certainly more than a eulogy.

Buffalo Bill’s
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigonsjust like that
Jesus

he was a handsome man
and what I want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

-------------------------
...so, for Bob Henderson, in the spirit of e.e. cummings... and you can call it a eulogy if you want to...

PRELUDE AND FUGUE ON BACH by Liszt
set me bolt upright then when
I thought about it and began to write,
the English teacher in me
pondered for a second
whether to say set or sat bolt upright;
but, of course, thinking with all punctuation
in place, wrote the
transitive set which calmed
my spirit and let Liszt,
Bach in mind, have his way
with me, not their way, but
his for the sake of agreement.

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