Xli Poems/Sonnet 16

by Edward Estlin Cummings

XVI

by god i want above fourteenth

fifth's deep purring biceps, the mystic screetchof Broadway, the trivial stink of rich

frail firm asinine lifefrail firm asinine life(i pant

for what's below. the singer. Wall. i wantthe perpendicular lips the insane teeththe vertical grin

the vertical gringive me the Square in spring,the little barbarous Greenwich perfumed fake

And most, the futile fooling labyrinthwhere noisy colors stroll . . . . and the Baboon

sniggering insipidities while. i sit, sippingsingular anisettes as. One opaquebig girl jiggles thickly hips to the canoun

but Hassan chuckles seeing the Greeks breathe)