maggie and milly and molly and may

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The classic poem for this issue of

The Fairfield Review

was written by E. E. Cummings (

1894 - 1962).

This is a wonderful poem about summer, nature, and self discovery. --jgh (For the evidence on why his name is capitalized, see Norman Friedman's article

"NOT 'ee cummings.'"

--egh)

maggie and milly and molly and may

By E. E. Cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may

went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star

whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea