THE POETRY OF
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS
************************************
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
"THE RED WHEELBARROW,"
by William Carlos Williams
*********************
Sitting here in my cozy attic this cold February
morning, I am alternately reading poetry and
admiring my attic!
There are a couple of inches of snow and sleet
on the ground. It all began about five a.m. and
the sleet is still flying in on gusts of 35 m.p.h.
and giving that blizzard sound of splat...splat..
splat... against the window! It is pummeling the
roof, right over my head.
The wind is moaning through the 1/4 inch
opening at the bottom of the window---which
I have allowed for fresh air---and the pesky
old mulberry branch is slapping the side of
the house in a priceless rhythm.
I am musing on the fact that I may have the
most famous attic around. It's true---my
readers and friends sometimes kinda hint:
"Er, sometime we might just drop in to see
you all and...well, spend the night in your cozy
attic---you know, just to check it out, try your
snacks---and see if it is as good as you say!
LOL."
Well, there are several drawbacks to this idea.
One is, my military surplus sturdy 3/4 bed is
a bit small for two people (I think).
And then I know they'll be into my stash of
snacks, so neatly arranged on my garage
sale 3/5 rolling cabinet: canned Beanie-Weenies,
canned tamales, Wolf's chili, Libby's Vienna
sausage, sardines, Dinty Moore Beef Stew,
extra crunchy JIF peanut butter, a jar of
cashews, six packs of Orville Redenbacher
movie popcorn, and two boxes of Ritz crackers,
(not the lo-calorie kind).
Over there in the little fridge, I try to keep a
variety of smears for the Ritz crackers---
onion and chives, garden vegetable, green chili,
and pimento cheese spread.
Those of you who've been to my attic know that
there are always NEHI orange and grape sodas
(twelve-ounce sizes), Hires Root Beers, diet/decaf
Pepsis and Dr. Peppers, and a couple of Snapple
Iced Teas!
The little fridge has a small freezer and I like to keep
two Stouffer's Mac and Cheese, frozen. All you have to
do is put them in the microwave for six minutes
or so and have some marvelous mac and cheese!
Well, enough about my snacks...and I really don't mind
sharing---l like company---just wanted an excuse
to tell you about my neat little place and my food!
I brought upstairs, awhile back, some volumes of
poetry, bound in leather, from the Franklin Company.
In 1976, the company published (into 1984), for
the 200th anniversary of American Independence,
the "100 Best American Books," written up to
that time. (I acquired them at one-a-month for eight
and a third years.)
The ones I have pulled out of the shelf to study, and
brought upstairs, are poetry volumes of: Robert Frost,
Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, e.e. cummings,
Edward Arlington Robinson, and William Carlos
Williams.
I was somewhat surprised at the choices of poetry,
plays and novels---I had never heard of some of them,
plays and novels---I had never heard of some of them,
and other important ones were overlooked. I wrote the
committee about this and they indicated that the selections
were made by several dozen Ph.D.'s in literature.
One of the poets I had not heard of was William Carlos
Williams, whose poems were published in a beautiful
bright orange leather volume with gold embossed design
and lettering. and of course, gold-edged pages.
It is William's poems I am studying and enjoying today,
here as I lie propped up on my camp bed, with my goose-
neck lamp on, and covered up under a quilt that is half
as old as I am.
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was sometimes
referred to as "The Doctor Poet." In many ways, he
may have been one of the most unique and unusual
of the Twentieth Century American poets.
He was unusual in that his "day job" was in medicine.
He was a doctor. It is likely that most of his patients
never knew he was a poet. In his medical career---caring for
plain old every day Americans in plain old common
small towns, he was constantly absorbing information,
inspiration, and ideas for his poetry. He gained a
deep understanding of what it meant to be an
American.
The way they thought and talked---their customs and
speech patterns were forever etched on his mind. His
goal was to spend his life recording this... in poetry.
He felt like every common man's life was poetic.
In the literary world, he is thought to be one of the
most original voices of the 20th century. In several
of the writing courses I have taken, he is one of the
poets most-often quoted.
I am quoting for you here, two more of his poems:
"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
"TO A POOR OLD WOMAN"
munching on a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand
They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her
You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand
Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her.
In William Carlos William's interesting poem
"THE WIND INCREASES," he uses the
most unusual word format of any poem
I have ever seen. We are reminded: If it's
YOUR poem, a considerable amount of
creativity is allowed...and expected, in
whatever you want to do or say.
My reader, I hope you have been
challenged a little bit to study and enjoy
William's poems. Many of his are not so
simple as the ones I've quoted here.
I plan to keep reading him until I am fully
familiar with his work..
It is so cozy under this quilt, and the
weather is clearly worsening outside. I
think I am like Wylie's mother who wrote
in her "FRIO" story: "I have always loved
a good storm."
I believe I'll cover up good with this quilt and
get me a little nap...and when I wake up---have
a big NEHI grape with Ritz Crackers, and
a bit of pimento cheese spread on each one!
********30*******
BY MIL
02/03/14
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