It's World Poetry Day.
As an English Literature undergraduate, I spent many a happy hour absorbed in the modernist poetry of William Carlos Williams. More or less a celebrity in his native USA, he's relatively unknown here.
His poems often convey a certain haecceitas - the quality of 'thisness' - capturing something very particular. In the Social Brain Centre, we're interested in the importance of attention, and one of the possibilities offered by Carlos Williams' poetry is to focus attention very acutely. In a way, I think his poems illustrate mindfulness in action. It's especially clear in these two of his most famous poems:
The Red Wheel Barrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
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
Be the first to write a comment
Please login to post a comment or reply.
Don't have an account? Click here to register.