Tuesday Poem: “To a Poor Old Woman” by William Carlos Williams
To a Poor Old Woman
munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand
They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her
You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand
Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her
by William Carlos Williams
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On November 2, 2010 I posted Spring and All, which is also a poem by William Carlos Williams. I said at the time that Williams is one of my favourite poets, but even so I would not normally have posted another poem of his so soon. There is a particular reason for choosing this poem, however.
In the immediate few days after the earthquake, when we had no power or other services, and were subsisting on food from a can that could be cooked over a spirit burner, a neighbour brought me fresh plums from her tree. They were great plums, but the delight of eating something fresh, with that borderline between sweet and tart that the best plums manage to achieve, reminded me strongly of this poem: they tasted good to me, in fact.
Hence my choice of To a Poor Old Woman for this week’s Tuesday Poem. (Although I’m not having having a bar of either the poor or the old, no matter the circumstances.)
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Such concentration of beauty in this poem. I adore Williams too and could read a poem of his every day. In fact, his poems litter my fridge (of all places). Thanks so much for posting. It sounds like this was a particularly apt poem for you, Helen.
Definitely the right words in the right order at that moment …
This is just to say (LOL) that plums always taste good
Indeed they do, but sometimes you notice their goodness more…:)
It’s the perfect metaphor for so many things, post-quake. The new appreciation it gives you for the very smallest of things that we’ve always taken for granted. Perfect 🙂
‘Moments amidst the mayhem’—but those moments of taste, vision, hearing, touch, are very grounding and that’s important when the actual ground is not as solid as you have always found it.
lyrical 🙂 I found myself wanting to sing it. I don’t like plums. I *love cantalope though and they are starting to come into season!!
WCW has captured that “ah ha” moment, hasn’t he? I love cantaloupes too (we call them rockmelons here) and have a great recipe for cantaloupe and strawberry salad—but we, of course, are heading out of summer and into autumn, so melons and strawberries are behind us. This is the season for the plum and creme fraiche tart, which is ‘ah-may-zing’. I, however, love plums! 🙂