Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
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1944 / New York City

E. E. Cummings Told Him

Tags:
,
,
,

plato told

him:he couldn’t
believe it(jesus

told him;he
wouldn’t believe
it)lao

tsze
certainly told
him,and general
(yes

mam)
sherman;
and even
(believe it
or

not)you
told him:i told
him;we told him
(he didn’t believe it,no

sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth

avenue
el;in the top of his head:to tell

him

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Published In
States of War
About the Text

The final lines of e. e. cummings' poem refer to Manhattan's dismantled Sixth Avenue elevated tracks, which were bought as scrap metal by Imperial Japan three years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein
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Lewis H. Lapham is Editor of Lapham's Quarterly. He also serves as editor emeritus and national correspondent for Harper's magazine.
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