Here are a few lines I strung together from a handful of Stevens’ poems. I have always found him to be an infinitely playful poet, and the many child-like, song-like phrases he employs, as well as the outlandish titles, are part of what makes his poems so playful. If I were a real scholar I would know that maybe some of these lines, like the 'hey nonny nonny' he uses quite a bit, also harken back to the glory days of the Elizabethan Top 40.
Hey-di-ho!
And-a-rummy-tummy-tum
La-la!
Sing coo, sing cuck, cuckoo
Ululala
The green goes from corn,
the blue from all the lakes
Hola!
Reading Stevens is, at times, like listening to Pooh as he makes up and hums another sustaining song. What set me thinking about Stevens and the child-like accents in some of his poems (maybe not surprisingly) were poems by children. Tiger white purple cold. Ha ha ha! Ode to Watermelon. Pineapples ... the planet is on the lunch room table indeed. The poems are from grades 3,4, 5 - have a look.
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