This Is Just To Say
Posted by Tim at 23:11:44
I thought I might try to start regularly picking out bits of poetry and commenting on them here. Here’s a fun one I haven’t read for awhile, “This Is Just To Say:”
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the iceboxand which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.Forgive me
-- William Carlos Williams
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
I think Williams had a unique gift for "picturesque poetry," or, more properly, "Imagist poetry." Unlike much of the poetry of the last century that aimed more at painting a scene than telling a story or arguing a point, but failed to do much of anything at all, Williams's works actually seemed to succeed in being primarily a sensory experience. This one always makes my mouth water as if I really have missed out on a cold, sweet plum.
Thoughts?
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As a complete curmudgeon, I have a very narrow taste in poetry. So narrow it is, I cannot explain it. However, I assure you this one fell outside. Blech.
As an engineer, on occasion we would make little gadgets that had little (or even no) function. Mostly amusement and merriment. Boxes with lights that blink. Rotary dials that generate four-word proposal jargon - “neoteric paradigm convergence optimization”.
One of the best was the “PMS detector”. It was a clear plastic box, with a large red lightbulb on top. It sat on a thick wooden base, and the clear box contained a circuit board and a pushbutton. Labeled “push to detect”. And a cord.
Once you pushed the button, it blinked, and emitted a faint, but annoying beep. And it would not stop. Since the large wooden base concealed eight batteries, unplugging the device would not stop it. However, tilting it 90 degrees, and balancing it on one corner of the base, for five seconds would silence it.
I think poets have their own “technical humor”.
How much to have one of those PMS detectors custom built for my personal use, Mike? I really like the fake power cord touch. Gotta remember that.
Lemme scarf up the parts and get you one made. Pay raise is March 1. Swap meet is March 4
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