Saturday, July 6, 2019

THE YOUNG HOUSEWIFE ~







The Young Housewife
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS




At ten A.M. the young housewife

moves about in negligee behind

the wooden walls of her husband's house.

I pass solitary in my car.



Then again she comes to the curb

to call the ice-man, fish-man, and stands

shy, uncorseted, tucking in

stray ends of hair, and I compare her

to a fallen leaf.



The noiseless wheels of my car

rush with a crackling sound over

dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.




____________________

Long ago
in some school
— all girls
and let's not
get fussy —
I'd say all boys
if it wasn't
all girls
and winter
time
on my
way
to
class
I managed
to find a
leaf
often an oak
and brouht it
into the
classroom
and this went
on for 20
years the same
way asking
one of the
students to stand
on a chair
and hold the leaf
aloft as if her
arm was a
branch and when
I came to the WCW
line comparing
the housewife to
a fallen leaf
I would nod
and the student
would let the
leaf drop from
her hand and
every single
girl saw
what the poet
saw and I
loved that room
those girls
that moment
that leaf
that poet
that poem
and each
year a
different
leaf


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