After reading E.E. Cummings’ “‘kitty’. sixteen,5’1”,white,prostitute” for the first time, the only thing I felt I knew for certain was the literal subject of the poem: an unknown, unspecified young woman nick-named “kitty.” I didn’t really understand the trajectory or storyline and I definitely had no idea what message the author was trying to put forth in the last two lines. 

After reading it a couple of times, hoping the meaning would magically come to me (but to no avail) I decided to take it line by line. Immediately, the descriptors conjure the image of a pale, petite, fragile teenager, giving the reader their first impression of the subject. The structure seemed almost like a dating profile or modeling cover sheet, but I wasn’t sure why. The suggestive nickname of “kitty” appears mildly condescending, comparing the young woman’s disposition to that of a meek, helpless kitten. Kitty could also be a stage or show name, since sex workers often go by them for safety and privacy. I remembered that later, “‘kitty’” was changed to “Kitty,” perhaps signaling that it isn’t just a nickname but her real name. Or maybe, to support my initial assertion, she was referring to herself as “kitty” as a pseudonym but the men she encounters believe it is her real identity. It really made me think about what goes into a name and how they define us, whether we would like them to or not. I wondered: perhaps identity was a theme of this poem? After all, her name was mentioned three times in the poem. 

The next line stumped me though, as I was unsure what “must” and “shall” referred to (Cummings line 2). At first I thought they were objects, as she was always “ducking” away from their “touch,” but then it hit me—they were commands! The woman, “kitty,” is shying away from mens’ demands for her to perform sexual acts, which is unusual since she is supposed to be a prostitute. It paints her as someone who is participatory but begrudgingly so, revealing undesirable feelings towards her profession. The third line gave me more trouble than the second. Her “slippery body” probably meant that she was skinny, seductive, and lithe, but what did Death’s pal mean (Cummings line 3)? Is she men’s downfall? Is the work of prostitution slowly wearing away at her soul? Who is metaphorically dying here, and why? I read on to see if I could find out. 

Unfortunately, the next few lines were of no help. They continue to characterize “kitty” as a docile, dumb doll, drawing comparisons once again to an animal. Then Cummings messes with the capitalization, changing “sixteen” to “Sixteen.” I didn’t know what purpose this served, other than reminding the reader of her young, vulnerable age. After the indent, however, I identified a shift in audience, with the speaker now addressing a man, instead of vaguely describing “kitty” at large. The man must be the “corking brute,” I reasoned, but what did the following lines mean (Cummings line 9)? Was the speaker making fun of the men for being “amused” by a minor, unable to find suitable partners their own age (Cummings line 10)? But then the reference to Sunday mass, with the “sunday flower,” made no sense to me (Cummings line 11). Cummings appears to be allusion heavy but I couldn’t seem to think of an alternate meaning or creative interpretation to explain the phrase. 

A line later, the reference to the woman’s age again, “twice eight,” perplexed me (Cummings line 12). Why did the author feel the need to highlight this detail three times throughout the entire poem?  Then I remembered the significance of one’s sixteenth birthday, analogous to Quinceñeras or Bat Mitzvahs in other cultures. Turning this age was, historically, considered the time that girls entered womanhood—despite not even being legal. Sixteen is an ambiguous, promiscuous period in a young woman’s development, when society begins to sexualize her though she is just a child. Maybe Cummings was trying to draw attention to the hypersexualization of youth through his repeated mention of the subject’s age and reference to her being “babybreasted” (Cummings line 12). The repetition does makes the reader slightly uncomfortable with the nature of the poem, underrage prostitution. Still, I wasn’t too sure why it was phrased in the way that it was.

The first few times I read this poem I didn’t get the line “—beer nothing, the lady’ll have a whiskey-sour—” (Cummings line 13). Somehow, while writing this paper, it hit me that it was a line of dialogue. The lack of quotations definitely threw me off, but it appears as though an unspecified, alleged male figure is ordering a drink for “kitty.” I’m not familiar with drinking culture, for obvious reasons, so I tried to do a little research on whiskey sours. Key word try, as everything I searched for came up empty. This made me wonder why Cummings chose to name drop this specific drink, besides the fact that it was alcoholic and the girl was underage. I’m still wondering to be honest. 

Finally, the part of the poem that gave me the most trouble was upon me: the final stanza. Though I read and reread it, I just didn’t understand what it meant. Her smile being considered a “common divisor” suggests that it is well-liked (Cummings line 15). But why call it “least amazing” (Cummings line 14)? What does least amazing even mean? Ugly? Forgettable? Overhyped? Superficial? The description perplexed me, to say the least. Even without, I didn’t understand what the phrase meant. Who were these “unequal souls”? Men of different social classes perhaps? Or maybe those good and bad, upstanding citizens and ruthless criminals? Perhaps it was a critique of men in general, as the quality of their character had no bearing on their willingness to engage in immoral acts. This would be reasonable, as prostitution is an activity people from the top of Capital Hill to the local penitentiary partake in. 

Though I couldn’t quite nail the meaning of the last two lines, or phrases such as “Sunday flower” and “two eight,” I felt I was able to extrapolate enough information to pinpoint the general theme of the poem. I deduced that “‘kitty’. sixteen,5’1”,white,prostitute” offered commentary on prostitution and warned of the manipulation and deumanization it promoted. With this logic, the “Death’s littlest pal” line made sense, as her livelihood wore away at her liveliness. The speaker appears to be a biased third person narrator, describing both “kitty” and the men she engages with, while peppering judgements and descriptions along the way. As someone who lived in the 20s, during the wildly promiscuous era of flappers and even more scandalous age of Prohibition, Cummings’ topic of choice makes a lot of sense. Though I don’t understand every line to a tee, I appreciate his female-sympathetic take on a once contemporary social issue in America.