Yes! I forgot about this poem probably forty years ago except for that one "word": manunkind. It has popped into my head every few years but I could never remember where it came from and I never googled it because I thought it was something I had heard spoken to me by someone somewhere. A hopeless case indeed. Many thanks!
Isn’t it funny how a word like that goes deep into the consciousness? Manunkind. I had the same reaction to it when I read that when I was a teenager. That, and a world of made is not a world of born. Viva springtime!
Your reply makes my day; thank you! From everything I’ve read about Edward Estlin Cummings including the recently re-released book, Miscellany, he reportedly had a broad sense of humor that was mischievous and even childlike which makes complete sense. That uniquely balance is found everywhere in his poetry, his illustrations. Thank you, GK, for writing this Substack column. Your insight and humor is the balm in Gilead in this madcap world of maga supporters. Wishing you and your Gal a lovely weekend.
I, too, have many worthy books unread, and felt the same futility, perhaps yourself about reading them -- until I discovered (late) Audible. Now someone reads to me better than I could read, and faster. Think you can't make it through The Idiot, and Robert Caro? You can!
Many, many years ago when listening to PHC, I heard yourself say that (and I am paraphrasing here) in Lake Wobegon "the people have all realized that they are not going to be famous, or President, or wealthy, or Miss America, or etc. And that once people realize this, then they can just get on with living life."
At the time, I though that was a very good way to look at life. And I still think that it is a good way to look at life.
I have spent most of my life going to church but I think that the best explanation of the reason the universe and world are the way that they are is Darwin's theory of evolution. The Big Bang happened about five billion years ago and life got started and there were five great extinctions and here we are. I really cannot conceive of how long a million or billion years are.
This could be interpreted to mean that we are all very insignificant which we are. But it is also a source of great wonder. Look at the wonder and beauty of life. There have been five great mass extinctions (the last one got the dinosaurs) but each time there was an extinction everything was not killed. And the life that remained came back.
Like the people in Lake Wobegon, I am not going to be famous or well known. And that is good because I have no ideas on how to save the world or to save humanity and so forth. I am glad that nobody is expecting me to save anything.
But that leaves me free to live life as I see fit and maybe be of help to friends and family.
People say that fear of God is the reason that people are mostly good. That could be true but I think that if you treat other people good and try to live the "Golden Rule" then you will have a happier life. You will feel good about yourself.
Life is what you make it. What you look for is mostly what you find.
Best wishes Garrison and best wishes to one and all.
Great way to start my day. Blessings from the daughter of a North Dakota mother born in 1927. She too taught us to work hard and endure. Our father taught us to laugh. Both tremendous people! Thank you!
Laughing out loud, holding my sides…while feeling sad about your eyes…but immaculate degeneration??? Still chuckling. Thank you for lightening and enlightening our mornings here in strange-weather Minnesota.
We went to check out Wabash, Indiana, after a previous column of yours. Worth the visit for the architecture and friendly folks on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but where to find a cup of coffee? Your writing just gets better.. Have seen quite a few of your performances in Joliet, Chicago, Ravinia, St Paul, Moorhead. Harold Newton, Hyde Park
May your future be pepperoni-free, Sir. Best wishes from Oregon.
Bravo, GK! What a great way to start the day into a bright & warm weekend here in nyc. Dig it! Ah, Docks. Many a good supper & martini there.
And this:
pity this busy monster, manunkind,
not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)
plays with the bigness of his littleness
--- electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
A world of made
is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh
and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical
ultraomnipotence. We doctors know
a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go
E. E. Cummings
Yes! I forgot about this poem probably forty years ago except for that one "word": manunkind. It has popped into my head every few years but I could never remember where it came from and I never googled it because I thought it was something I had heard spoken to me by someone somewhere. A hopeless case indeed. Many thanks!
Isn’t it funny how a word like that goes deep into the consciousness? Manunkind. I had the same reaction to it when I read that when I was a teenager. That, and a world of made is not a world of born. Viva springtime!
You and I and a few teenagers are the only cummings fans left. Wish I'd met him. I'll bet he was very staid and dignified, not loopy at all.
Your reply makes my day; thank you! From everything I’ve read about Edward Estlin Cummings including the recently re-released book, Miscellany, he reportedly had a broad sense of humor that was mischievous and even childlike which makes complete sense. That uniquely balance is found everywhere in his poetry, his illustrations. Thank you, GK, for writing this Substack column. Your insight and humor is the balm in Gilead in this madcap world of maga supporters. Wishing you and your Gal a lovely weekend.
I, too, have many worthy books unread, and felt the same futility, perhaps yourself about reading them -- until I discovered (late) Audible. Now someone reads to me better than I could read, and faster. Think you can't make it through The Idiot, and Robert Caro? You can!
Alan
I'll take this under consideration.
That was a nice one. Thanks!
There are lines here that may and should make my sermon in the coming weeks. Thank you!
Help yourself. No attributions, please.
Many, many years ago when listening to PHC, I heard yourself say that (and I am paraphrasing here) in Lake Wobegon "the people have all realized that they are not going to be famous, or President, or wealthy, or Miss America, or etc. And that once people realize this, then they can just get on with living life."
At the time, I though that was a very good way to look at life. And I still think that it is a good way to look at life.
I have spent most of my life going to church but I think that the best explanation of the reason the universe and world are the way that they are is Darwin's theory of evolution. The Big Bang happened about five billion years ago and life got started and there were five great extinctions and here we are. I really cannot conceive of how long a million or billion years are.
This could be interpreted to mean that we are all very insignificant which we are. But it is also a source of great wonder. Look at the wonder and beauty of life. There have been five great mass extinctions (the last one got the dinosaurs) but each time there was an extinction everything was not killed. And the life that remained came back.
Like the people in Lake Wobegon, I am not going to be famous or well known. And that is good because I have no ideas on how to save the world or to save humanity and so forth. I am glad that nobody is expecting me to save anything.
But that leaves me free to live life as I see fit and maybe be of help to friends and family.
People say that fear of God is the reason that people are mostly good. That could be true but I think that if you treat other people good and try to live the "Golden Rule" then you will have a happier life. You will feel good about yourself.
Life is what you make it. What you look for is mostly what you find.
Best wishes Garrison and best wishes to one and all.
Great way to start my day. Blessings from the daughter of a North Dakota mother born in 1927. She too taught us to work hard and endure. Our father taught us to laugh. Both tremendous people! Thank you!
Black holes could be a portal to other universes.
Who knows?
Black holes could be a portal to other universes.
Who knows?
Yeah spam, Ick!
The cosmos is a great source of wonder. Read up on black holes colliding and creating gravity waves.
Even better are the humans down here that figured out how to measure that.
Wonderful stuff, life.
You light up so many lives! Thank you!
Laughing out loud, holding my sides…while feeling sad about your eyes…but immaculate degeneration??? Still chuckling. Thank you for lightening and enlightening our mornings here in strange-weather Minnesota.
WOW! Great read!
As always; thank you! BTW have I used the semi-colon appropriately there?
"immaculate degeneration" !!
We went to check out Wabash, Indiana, after a previous column of yours. Worth the visit for the architecture and friendly folks on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but where to find a cup of coffee? Your writing just gets better.. Have seen quite a few of your performances in Joliet, Chicago, Ravinia, St Paul, Moorhead. Harold Newton, Hyde Park
Hyde Park. Lovely part of Chicago. Hope the neighborhood is holding up well.