Today’s poem is chosen and introduced by Mr Macdonald-Brown.
This juicy delight is by the 20th century American poet, William Carlos Williams. It’s a good lockdown poem because it takes the form of a note left on a fridge (‘icebox’ in American), perhaps by the poet for his wife, as a kind of confession for eating the plums that she’d left in there: well, we’ve all been there!
The beauty of this poem is that, as well as being immediately funny (the sheer cheek of it!), its tone is elusive (teasing? harsh? matter-of-fact?) and it’s open to so many different readings: as a literary joke, as the portrait of a marriage (but good or bad?), as an allegory. It really doesn’t ‘just say’ anything, but it suggests so much…
This juicy delight is by the 20th century American poet, William Carlos Williams. It’s a good lockdown poem because it takes the form of a note left on a fridge (‘icebox’ in American), perhaps by the poet for his wife, as a kind of confession for eating the plums that she’d left in there: well, we’ve all been there! The beauty of this poem is that, as well as being immediately funny (the sheer cheek of it!), its tone is elusive (teasing? harsh? matter-of-fact?) and it’s open to so many different readings: as a literary joke, as the portrait of a marriage (but good or bad?), as an allegory. It really doesn’t ‘just say’ anything, but it suggests so much…
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
