poetry archive revelations

e.e. cummings reads at about half the speed I expected, in a heavily mannered voice. I've always imagined "anyone lived in a pretty how town" to proceed at a cheerful clip, whereas if he had laid it out the way he reads it, it would look like this:


anyone




lived

in a




pretty
how
town

with
up
so
floating

many
bells
        DOWN

Where DOWN is a sudden serious drop of the voice, like a lugubrious Sesame Street character explaining the difference between Opposite Words. And each word is pronounced       very       carefully.

{rf}