One (Two) Poem(s) at a Time -11-

Poetry is both unbearably beautiful and has a sense of humor.

                                                                     -Lucia

 

 

 

 

 

This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams
by Kenneth Koch

 1.
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

      2.
 We laughed at the hollyhocks together
 and then I sprayed them with lye.
 Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

      3.
 I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
 The man who asked for it was shabby
 and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

      4.
 Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
 Forgive me. I was clumsy and
 I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

 

 

[Listen to an audio clip of Audre Lorde reading “The Black Unicorn.”]