Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Saturday, December 3. 2011

Saturday Verse: William Carlos Williams

Danse Russe


If I when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,
Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?



Dr. Williams, a college pal of Ezra Pound at Penn, practiced medicine in Rutherford, NJ until 1951 and delivered over 3000 babies. An optimistic and humane man and poet.

Posted by Bird Dog in Saturday Verse at 05:00 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

PingBack
Weblog: www.dailypundit.com
Tracked: Dec 04, 02:31

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Paterson was one of the the artsy things I was forced to read in college that I actually liked. Still seems to fit the city too.
#1 forest on 2011-12-03 09:47 (Reply)
Great verse! I first read this in Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart.
#2 arcs on 2011-12-03 10:19 (Reply)
One of my favorite poems by favorite poet. Each image more luscious than the last. Perhaps the best definition of success: to the "happy genius of your household."
#3 ms anthrope on 2011-12-03 11:48 (Reply)
Yes. "Genius" not meaing IQ, but more like "genie."
#3.1 Bird Dog on 2011-12-03 11:50 (Reply)
--that's a great, weird, little piece --thanks for the introduction!
#4 buddy larsen on 2011-12-03 14:44 (Reply)
I find the poem grotesque and without linguistic beauty.
Other than that, I hope not to find it again.

De gustibus non est disputandum, y'all.
#5 PacRim Jim (Link) on 2011-12-04 00:12 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.