What is "l(a"

"l(a" is a poem by E. E. Cummings. It is the first poem in his 1958 collection 95 Poems.

"l(a" is arranged vertically in groups of one to five letters.

l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness

When the text is laid out horizontally, it either reads as l(a leaf falls)oneliness —in other words, a leaf falls inserted between the first two letters of loneliness- or l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness, with a le af fa ll s between a l and one.

Cummings biographer Richard S. Kennedy calls the poem "the most delicately beautiful literary construct that Cummings ever created".