Plums

This Is Just To Say

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

I was blog surfing this afternoon (on a break from doing lots of admin work for the retreat) and came across a cool blog where she'd posted this poem...which I recognised instantly as we studied it in university. I love it. I know some people don't like it at all, because it is very much about the beauty of the images and sounds of the words...and about the underlying relationship of this person and the other. And not a poem that rhymes and has an obvious moral message.

So I shall ask you the things we were asked when we studied this poem. Because I miss (miss *sigh*) going to English classes. Leave your answers in the comments.

• Who wrote this (a man, a woman, a child)?
• To whom did they write?
• What is their relationship
• Write a reply (this is a short piece...the answer would be short)

And then I'll tell you the BEST reply that someone in my class wrote. I wish I could take the credit for her reply, but I can't. It was brilliant.