Deep and Dark "puddle-wonderful"

Cummings is a great poet to spend some time with in a modern poetry class. Although his work does not demonstrate or command the authority in voice of a Stevens or Whitman, there is much to be learned (and un-learned) from this quiet genius. Most important is to get past the apparent quirkiness of the design of his poems. Yes, he misuses or abandons punctuation; yes he breaks lines and words non-traditionally and spreads them all over the page. But to focus on this aspect of his work is dismissive of his love of form (see one of his sonnets such as "["next to of course god america i]"), his dark satire, and all of his strong personal and political beliefs. Because we are traditionally exposed to few or one of his poems in high school (almost certainly "[in Just-]"), Cummings too often is glossed over as a one-trick-pony, flash in the pan who wrote that wonderfully fun poem about spring.
By beginning, at this level, with a more adult explication of "[in Just-]," we emerge from the world of the sinister balloonman shaken. We are forced to look deeper into Cummings' playground, to see what might be lurking behind the parentheses.
I wished to look at a poem I had not read before, and I found "[Buffalo Bill 's] to be quite interesting. Right away the reader is put off by the use of the word "defunct" in line 2. The subject is not exactly dead, he instead has stopped functioning, as if he were a programmed, automated entertainment machine rather than a person. Immediately we are told that this elegy (if that is even what it will be) is not exactly going to mourn or praise the deceased. Indeed the poem evolves into a satirical account of Buffalo Bill's progression from army hero to side-show act, ending with Cummings' ultimate statement of contempt in line 10:

"how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death"

A common device in Cummings' poetry is the use of childlike voice and perspective. He employs that here to show the change in perspective that he perhaps has experienced toward Buffalo Bill. The combining of nine words into one in line 5 emulates the rapid, overexcited speech a of a young man in adoration of his idol. Yet his sarcastic address to death is pure angry adult. In order to grow up, he has had to tear down his idol. Looking at Cummings' full body of work, I find that the prevalence of satire and black comedy reminds me a great deal of America's greatest satirist, Kurt Vonnegut.