Is It A Poem?

Today in class we had an argument over this poem and whether or not it really was a poem.

"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

Many people were saying that this wasn't really a poem, that it was just a bunch of sentences divided into different lines, and indeed they kind of look that way.  The sentence "I stare at the clock until class ends because I'm bored" can become a poem if it's written like 

"I stare 

at the clock

until class ends

Because I'm bored"

But there is something about the poem (if we are for the time being going to call it that) "This is Just to Say" that I really liked even though it was so simple.  It made me think of a couple of events in my life that relate to this.  My brother stealing my cream soda that I hid in the back to save for later and also several occasions in which I have earned myself a tasty afternoon snack by claiming unmarked food in the stage crew fridge.  The fact that this poem connected with me, as well as the fact that I got some enjoyment while reading it makes me believe that this is indeed a poem.

Last semester for my Humanities class I had to write a paper titled "What is art"?  I decided that art can be anything as long as it means something so someone.  If a person is moved by the work, if they find something in it that is special to them, or even if it is the artist who put all their time and effort into something they feel proud of it, that can be considered art.  I feel this can connect to poetry too.  This poem made me laugh and made me think of something in my life.  Therefor I think it can be a poem.

There was one other part of the poem that I truly enjoyed.  The first line of the last stanza is "Forgive me".  He is not asking for forgiveness for doing anything terrible, he just ate her plums.  But you get a feel for the relationship between the two.  He wanted those plums so bad because they looked so delicious, and then he took the time to say sorry he stole them from her.  But he's not sorry that he ate them, just that they were hers.  

Comments

[Mara B.]

We had a similar discussion in class as well. But I don't want to go into too much of a broad subject here. I just found it interesting that you defined art as any work that has or gives meaning to an individual. Based on that, pretty much any original creation can be ocnsidered art. I'm not saying whether I agree or disagree; I just found it interesting to think that, according to your definition, we live in a world where few things are not art. Not where few things are art.

[Meghan W.]

I agree with you. I think that art is any work that has or gives meaning to an individual. Anything that is spoken, seen, etc. should be considered art, as long as the mind likes it. However, Mara I agree with you also. If that definition is used for art, than almost everything would be considered art.

[Alex B.]

I completely agree with what you said. I especially agree with your statement. " I decided that art can be anything as long as it means something so someone. " I feel that the same idea can be applied to poetry.

[Paul R.]

I’m sending this comment to those who wrote about how William Carlos Williams’s poems don’t seem like real poetry, to offer my opinion.

As I think about the poems of Mr. Williams, I’m reminded of an art class I had in 8th grade. To introduce us to a new project, my teacher showed our class a video about this man who lived in a run-down neighborhood in Detroit, one that I think had been affected by race-related rioting in the 1960’s. He decided to start up a project for children in the neighborhood by taking pieces of items thrown into trash containers, and working them into pieces of art, by either arranging them as sculpture, or taking blobs of paint and making paintings.

Many people thought that this wasn’t art, because it looked so crude. Thus started a legal battle, which pitted the man against the city of Detroit, which at one point, ordered that his artwork, which sprawled across an entire house property, be torn down. The end of the video said he’s still fighting to have his artwork kept on display.

I believe that the same principle applies to William Carlos Williams poetry. Of course it may not seem like real poetry, in comparison to some of the other poems we read in class, just like the man’s art may have not seemed like art in comparison to what we might find inside the Chicago Art Institute. But it’s a poem that came out of his head, and as such, it’s a poem indeed.

On that note, I would now like to offer tribute to Mr. William Carlos Williams by writing a poem to him:

William Carlos Williams
You wrote short poems
Simply describing a subject
And called it a poem
You are a genius.