Edward Estlin (e.e.) Cummings has been an inspiration for me for decades. He painted, he wrote novels, he produced 2,900 poems. Cummings trounced the rules of grammar and syntax in a way mass audiences could relate to. After serving in the ambulance corps in WWI and being imprisoned in France for "undesirable activities," he returned to New York City to make a living as a poet. There he wrote here's to opening and upward,to leaf and to sap, my favorite poem.