“This is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams

2019-04-01T15:21:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

This week’s poem is a fun one. Reactions are sometimes indignant (“Did he just pull that thing off the fridge?!”), but never really angry, and I think that’s because the poem is so charming. It does have the “everydayness” of a Duchamp readymade, but it really is a poem and one that shows us that poetry is everywhere.

The poet, William Carlos Williams, was an American poet who wanted poetry to be simple, about things and reality (rather than about the complex, abstract ideas many other poets favored). He is, after all, the poet of the famous “Red Wheelbarrow” poem (https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/red-wheelbarrow).

A quick note here about “free verse.” It is poetry that lacks rhyme and rhythm, two qualities that many people see as vital for a poem to really be A POEM. But Walt Whitman (the father of free verse) said that the poetic line should serve the thought, and the thought should not have to twist itself to fit the line.

Some might try to go deep with this poem; there are some definite openings for doing so (the fruit, the deliberate “sin” of taking something from someone who will miss it, the guilt and soft plea for forgiveness – all of which may suggest the Adam and Eve story to some folks). Or it may just be about something sweet and simple – like the plums.

Enjoy those plums!

“This is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams

This is just to say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

Poem of the Week

“This is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams