Mud-Luscious

[in Just-]

BY E. E. CUMMINGS

in Just- 

spring          when the world is mud- 

luscious the little 

lame balloonman 

whistles          far          and wee 

and eddieandbill come 

running from marbles and 

piracies and it's 

spring 

when the world is puddle-wonderful 

the queer 

old balloonman whistles 

far          and             wee 

and bettyandisbel come dancing 

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and 

it's 

spring 

and 

         the 

                  goat-footed 

balloonMan          whistles 

far 

and 

wee

**************************************

Mud-luscious -- what a remarkable and original word from this perfect spring poem by e.e. cummings. Maybe your teacher read it to you in school some time in the past; I think it's a popular poem for classroom use. But it's also a powerful poem, and when poets make up words like mud-luscious you don't forget them.

As I walked around a woodland trail the other day, squelching into the mud puddles and crunching through stretches where snow hadn't yet melted, I kept thinking "mud-luscious." The photos here are my effort to capture the early-spring feel of this walk, especially the bluebirds that were perching in one part of the woods, and the shoots coming up in the mud by the stream.

Luscious is a food word, though I don't use it often or see it in other people's food descriptions. I'll have it in mind, though, for the next time I taste a deeply sweet and satisfying dessert or a flavorful bowl of luscious soup. But for now, I have paths in the woods that are mud-luscious.

That's my word for Wordy Wednesday! Thank you, e.e. cummings. And thank you, Poetry Foundation, for the text of this poem, which I remember from long ago.