More than onions making me teary with this cutting board; Rebel Ridge kept me on edge; e e Cummings and what we’re remembered for

3 Things this week and a poem

Thanks for spending some of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down.

I think this post has may have the longest title of all time. What do you think? Let’s jump right in to three interesting places online this week and a pome about love and grammar.

1. More than onions making me teary with this cutting board

I gotta get me one of these cutting boards. I learned about Cup Board Pro, the invention of Keith Young, a New York City fireman and chef, whose orphaned kids pitched his genius prototype on Shark Tank, months after he passed away.

The kids got all 5 Sharks to invest, and did a big deal with Williams Sonoma that’s turned into a best-selling product.

Americans just know now to do reality TV. The tie-in to 9/11, the heartstrings, the story of innovation and overcoming with family was great TV (well, YouTube).

2. Rebel Ridge kept me on edge

Tired of looking through Netflix for a good film? Check out Rebel Ridge. It definitely kept Petra and I on edge. The action-thriller has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a measure that sometimes is a helpful gauge.

It’s a well paced film that builds to a gratifying conclusion. Terry Richmond (played by Aaron Pierre, who is magnetic) is a former Marine biking into a small town to post bail for his cousin. When he’s rammed off the road by police he comes face to face with big corruption in the little town.

The filmmakers demonstrate real restraint and build a thrilling narrative. It’s solid Friday night entertainment.

3. e e Cummings and what we’re remembered for

I’m reading a crime novel by the Scottish author Val McDermot (Past Lying from the Karen Pirie series. The antagonist is a detective who aims to solve historic cases and unsolved crimes) and this one’s complicated: in the pandemic, a missing person, a deceased crime author who may have committed the perfect crime.

In the narrative an e e Cummings’ poem that appears in a file of papers is an important clue to connecting the missing person and the deceased author. As they stumble upon the verse, the investigators briefly discuss the poem and the poet:

He was a prisoner of war in the First World War. He wrote a novel about it. But his politics were a bit dodgy. He supported McCarthy in the 1950s in his communist witch hunt. It’s one of those, “can you still admire the writing if the writer’s got terrible politics?” things.

I don’t know, yet, how important in the novel the e e cummings poem will be, but I was stopped, for a moment, by the historical reference of a poet whose work I like (Petra and I really enjoy i carry your heart with me) and whom critics highlight pushed poetry in the English language forward in important ways.

It’s fascinating how Cummings was pegged and written off by the character in the novel so casually. And it made me think about how any of us will be or can be remembered.

I hope the author will revisit it by novel’s end and make some sort of insightful observation. It prodded me to go read about Cumming’s life and his work in greater detail over at Poetry Foundation. They give a much more comprehensive treatment to the fascinating, complicated, vibrant writer.

---

A poem

The poem referenced in the crime novel was let it go. I’m no ee cummings acolyte, but whenever I read his work I’m fascinated and a bit dazzled by how he places words, drops a concept, or reinvents language. How he writes about syntax and grammar even as he talks about love.

Here’s his poem, which is from his 100 Selected Poems collection.¹

let it go – the
e.e. cummings

let it go – the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise – let it go it
was sworn to
go

let them go – the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
neithers – you must let them go they
were born
to go

let all go – the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things – let all go
dear

so comes love

1. If you’re looking for a great book of poems, try it out. And here’s where I note that I’m testing out Amazon affiliate links. Purchases of the book generate a small commission to TIWD.