William Carlos William's very short poem "This Is Just To Say" frustrated me on my first read. Is this a poem? These few words? 28. Words. Seem to say everything. At least something. Not nothing. Something to say about desire, I take it? A fresh plum in the refrigerator that sits there expectantly, wanting to be eaten. I eat it. It is so cold, sweet, delicious.
The beauty of the poem is that it cannot be said any other way. What I mean to say is that if I wanted to tell someone about this poem I would have to read it out:
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
I cannot paraphrase it. It is the poem itself that utters its meaning. I could translate the poem.
C'est juste pour dire
par William Carlos Williams
J'ai mangé
des prunes
... qui ont été
dans la glacière
et qui
tu as probablement
épargne
pour le petit dejeuner
Pardon moi
ils étaient délicieux
si doux
et si froid
