"This Is Just to Say" William Carlos Williams - my thoughts

What is in a title?

 

Does it tell the same story as the poem itself?

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

~

The speaker is leaving a message, like a memo, an FYI.
As in "oh by the way.."
This is the tone I get from just the title.
But it is in the poem of course I get the sense of the real tone. A short path to an apology. The speaker doesn't say that they are sorry specifically, but they are asking for forgiveness.
Like a note left on an empty container or shelf by a roommate who had a case of the late night munchies. There is something so frustrating about that. They know they have done wrong. Even if it is as simple as eating a few plums.
Do people really need to put there names on everything? Sometimes.. I think the answer will have to be a yes. Here is something I wrote in response to This Is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams.

Breakfast

I awake
It is early, too early
I splash my face
I lace my shoes

The kitchen is crisp with morning chill.
The heat has yet to make it's presence known.

I open the fridge
My grip tightens on the handle,
My knuckles grow pale
My breakfast, my morning's sweet peace
is gone.

In it's place, a small paper
A few lines of hastily scratched gibberish

My house mate
like a masked bandit in the night,
strikes again                    
                                                                    
I close the door
I shake my head
I cannot eat paper
So what now I ask

Coffee and a morning smoke I suppose
Breakfast of champions


(Illustration- Unknown Artist)

Young Innocent Love

 "15" - Jennelle Wressell

Young innocent love
Rushing new as seasons change
Don't ever let go

The love capable of a teenager is a deeply passionate kind of love. Not so much a lustful passion, but instead an enchanting infatuation. It can be hypnotic, so for a moment they feel they are invincible. I’d like to think my poem touches on that kind of love.

I shaped this poem from a thought I had after reading “Love Poem” by Linda Pastan. It felt like a brief story of how the world can rush by when we are young and deep in love. And how all we can or want to do is stay close with one another. But as I said earlier this ecstasy felt between two beings can alter the way they see world around them.

"when we stand
on its dangerous
banks and watch it carry
with it every twig
every dry leaf and branch”
(5-9;441)

Rushing and racing by so even in those most devoted moments of love they must still be weary of what surrounds them.

"that even as we watch
we must grab
each other
and step back"
(15-18;441)
 True love can happen at any age, but the details of an adolescent love feel far more fantastical. Going beyond one's puppy love.

Emily Dickinson and the Dark

What is it about darkness that leaves us feeling a little uneasy?

 

What could be lurking out there? 

For myself...a few things come to mind.

 

 

...but

Darkness can represent so much more then just monsters. Just as light can have a vast variety of meanings.

The dark gives me a sense of mystery, and a desire to explore it.
In Emily Dickinson's "419," there was a strong theme of darkness present. But it wasn't a scary or evil type, it was more adventurous. I read her poem multiple times and each time I read it something different stood out to me.

First time - darkness
Second time - uncertainty
Third time - a pursuit to understand

I felt all three of these thoughts, moved down a path together. One leading right into the other.
Emily Dickinson writes:
"A Moment -- We uncertain step
For newness of the night --
Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --
And meet the Road -- erect--"
it is in this part that I see the three themes come together.

The second set begins with "We uncertain step." Almost right away get the sense of  I think the human race are natural risk takers, and that we are constantly striving for new great things.

Next it reads "For newness of the night --Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --" It almost seems like the darkness is considered bright. When I hear new I think of shinny and brilliant. With it written like it is, I feel like I'd have to shade my eyes from the night. But as in most situations in life, we adapt , we are able to see our path and help to understand the choices we might have to make.

Which then leads my thoughts to the end of that set "And meet the road -- erect --". There are still 3 parts left to the poem, but the curiosity to discover starts there.

Emily Dickinson focused a lot on seeing through the dark, so I cant help but wonder if she was writing about her own darkness. Maybe there was a faint longing to venture out and reclaim the light in her life. Just a thought.

For more info on Ms. Dickinson check out this sweet video, and mustache.

 

 

Noun - Verb - Noun

In reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings"

 

An angel, fallen from above, lies hopeless in a cold, wet chicken coop.

With this thought, a picture begins projecting in my mind.

 

Rain is pouring down, crushing his once white wings.

It was as if the rain refused to let him fly. His feathers sagged with a sense of defeat.

The angels body had sunk into the soft earth, creating a snarled and crooked "mud angel".

A variety of feathers were strewn about the ground of the coop like paper confetti.

But this image I had of the fallen angel was not a joyous one.

Instead it was very somber, and suggested a dark curiosity to the unknown.

 

In the story "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," I feel the reader is given a chance at creating their own magic using Marquez's writing and its imagery.

For your viewing and listening pleasure..