The boys i mean are not refined
The boys i mean are not refined Lyrics
they go with girls who buck and bite
they do not give a fuck for luck
they hump them thirteen times a night
one hangs a hat upon her tit
one carves a cross on her behind
they do not give a shit for wit
the boys i mean are not refined
they come with girls who bite and buck
who cannot read and cannot write
who laugh like they would fall apart
and masturbate with dynamite
the boys i mean are not refined
they cannot chat of that and this
they do not give a fart for art
they kill like you would take a piss
they speak whatever's on their mind
they do whatever's in their pants
the boys i mean are not refined
they shake the mountains when they dance
About
One of the greatest “dirty” poems in the English language, E. E. Cummings’s “the boys i mean are not refined” was originally published as a special insert in nine copies of his volume No Thanks. You still won’t find it in too many anthologies. On the poem’s unusual publication circumstances, Michael Webster has written:
It was published as a handwritten ‘holograph’ sheet, inserted into only nine copies of the original edition of 1000. Certainly, Cummings needed to ‘publish’ ‘the boys’ as a manuscript to avoid the censors, but why write it in his own hand? Though the handwritten, rare, and personal aspect may indicate the poet’s private endorsement of the poem’s contents, I think it points in a different direction. This ‘holograph’ manuscript edition is also a satiric comment on deluxe, rare, and expensive editions, which were often merely the rich man’s version of the pornography found in bathroom stalls. It could also be construed as a satire on the commodity fetishism of signed first editions, and it is certainly contrary to Cummings’ usual typewriter graphics. The poem achieved wide circulation only after Cummings’ death, when the Harcourt, Brace edition of the Complete Poems was published in 1972.
Q&A
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