One more thing that's always confused me: when Cummings writes

"when serpents bargain for the right to squirm
and the sun strikes to earn a living wage,
when thorns regard their roses with alarm
and rainbows are insured against old age"

Is he taking a position on labor relations? After all, you don't see the SUN going on strike, why should we allow YOU to form unions? "You want social security, you ridiculous creatures? Why, RAINBOWS don't have it, why should you! You don't see PORCUPINES suing doctors for malpractice, do you?" I know I should just sit back and enjoy the poem, not worry about the internal logic of the metaphors, a logic which so often turns out to be self-annulling.

Simian metaphors always confuse me anyway. I'm never sure whether we are supposed to be like them, or they are supposed to be like us.