Aha Moment: e.e. cummings

Studio 360 | Sep 13, 2012

Detail from cover of E.E. Cummings: A Poetry Collection

(Caedmon)

As a child Quang Bao fled Vietnam and lived in a refugee camp with his family. They eventually settled in Sugarland, Texas. He was in high school — captain of the swim team, a mediocre student, uninterested in literature, and unready to accept being gay — when he was given e.e. cummings’ poem "i like my body when it is with your." The poem taught him what love was, and set him on the path to becoming a writer.

(Originally aired: April 30, 2010)

→ Is there a poem, film, song, or other work of art that has changed your life? Tell us in a comment or by email.

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