[hist whist]

By E. E. Cummings 1894–1962

hist whist

little ghostthings

tip-toe

twinkle-toe

little twitchy

witches and tingling

goblins

hob-a-nob hob-a-nob

little hoppy happy

toad in tweeds

tweeds

little itchy mousies

with scuttling

eyes rustle and run and

hidehidehide

whisk

whisk look out for the old woman

with the wart on her nose

what she’ll do to yer

nobody knows

for she knows the devil ooch

the devil ouch

the devil

ach the great

green

dancing

devil

wheeEEE

Biography

"Among the most innovative of twentieth-century poets," according to Jenny Penberthy in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, E. E. Cummings experimented with poetic form and language to create a distinct personal style. A Cummings poem is spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page. Some of these words were invented by Cummings, often by combining two common words into a new synthesis. He also . . .

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