"This Is Just To Say"

American Poet William Carlos Williams once wrote a poem called "This Is Just To Say". It was an imagist poem, where the imagery given actually meant a bit more than the actual material itself, the feeling more than the message. It is a poem about apologies, and meaning what you say (or not meaning it). Today, many poets and English teachers alike use the poem to teach poetry, using it as a sort of template for rooting out feelings in students, and within themselves. After all, sometimes we need to be shown where to put things, a mold into which we can pour out our souls so that they look like something other than a mass of un-molded material. No one wants to see their soul in that un-formed, naked state. And so:

"This Is Just To Say", by William Carlos Williams.

"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"


"This Is Just To Say"
by Colin Flanigan

I wrote down all of the words you ever said to me
on index cards
one word each.

Then I tore them up.

I am sorry,
I should have respected your words enough
to recognize the symbolism
within this childlike tantrum.

But if you will help me,
I will glue the pieces back together
and form new words
which will mean much more
than the ones I say alone.


.Your turn.