The Poetry of Dr. Williams

For those of you who don’t know, William Carlos Williams (some consider him the father of the “Beat” generation) was a medical doctor. It is rumored that he used to write poems as he went from house to house making calls. Here is one of my favorites.

Danse Russe
If 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?

–William Carlos Willaims

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