E. E. Cummings, Buffalo Bill ’s (1920)

Buffalo Bill ’s

E. E. Cummings

Edward Estlin (E. E.) Cummings (1894–1962) was a prolific poet famous for defying traditional rules of typography, capitalization, and punctuation in pursuit of poetry that is both provocative and whimsical. “Buffalo Bill’s” was published in the Dial in 1920, three years after the death of William Cody.

Buffalo Bill’s

defunct

who used to

ride a watersmooth-silver

5

stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat

Jesus

he was a handsome man

and what i want to know is

10

how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death

(1920)