Thursday, June 12, 2008

William Carlos Williams.

The appropriation of? The massacre of?

I found this the other day in the English Students' Lounge at Colegio and it just gave me a chuckle. I hope it gives all the other nerds/English lit lovers a laugh as well. (I hope no one goes insane and pitches a fit about the bastardization of William Carlos Williams. I mean, it's all good fun!)


William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite poets (of course, you might consider that a cliché answer). He is half-English and half-Puerto Rican. The two poems that were appropriated on the chalkboard are some of his most famous, "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "This is just to say."

This is what the original versions of the poems say:

"The Red Wheelbarrow" (originally titled "XXII")

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white 
chickens

and ""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.

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