William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963 / New Jersey)

Quotations

  • ''no little brass rollers
    and small easy wheels on the bottom—
    my townspeople what are you thinking of!
    A rough plain hearse then
    with gilt wheels and no top at all.''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Tract (l. 28-32). . . The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams; Vol. 1, 1909-1939. A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan, eds. (1986) New Directions.
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  • ''You know what? Poets are being pursued by the philosophers today out of the poverty of philosophy. God damn it, you might think a man had no business to be writing, to be a poet unless some philosophic stinker gave him permission.''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. Letter, January 14, 1944, to James Laughlin. William Carlos Williams and James LaughlinSelected letters, ed. H. Witemeyer (1989).
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  • ''Compose. (No ideas
    but in things) Invent!
    Saxifrage is my flower that splits
    the rocks.''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. A Sort of a Song (l. 9-12). . . The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams; Vol. 2, 1909-1939. A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan, eds. (1986) New Directions.
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  • ''the cat
    climbed over
    the top of

    the jamcloset''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. As the cat (l. 1-4). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.
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  • ''the hind
    stepped down

    into the pit of
    the empty
    flowerpot''
    William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), U.S. poet. As the cat (l. 6-10). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W. W. Norton & Company.
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Après le Bain

I gotta
buy me a new
girdle.
(I'll buy
you one) O.K.
(I wish

you'd wig-
gle that way
for me,

I'd be
a happy man)
I GOTTA

wig-
gle for this.
(You pig)

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