William Williams
William Williams
deep odor passing rank
With what deep thirstwe quicken our desiresto that rank odor of a passing springtime!
beginning delights imagination neither nor order seasons usual
There is neither beginning nor end to the imagination but it delights in its own seasons reversing the usual order at will.
bad bitter choose dreams left turn
Well--all things turn bitter in the endwhether you choose the right orthe left wayand--dreams are not a bad thing.
bad bitter choose dreams left turn whether
Well-- all things turn bitter in the end whether you choose the right or the left way and-- dreams are not a bad thing.
facts human intense value vision
The only human value of anything, writing included, is intense vision of the facts.
race
We are a half-mad race, and what we say is not to be trusted.
assertion broken environment failing lifting means poem social thus total toward
The poem, to me (until I go broke) is an attempt, an experiment, a failing experiment, toward assertion with broken means but an assertion, always, of a new and total culture, the lifting of an environment to expression. Thus it is social, the poem is a social instrument.
amount ask continued equal frequently interest late medicine nearly reply
When they ask me, as of late they frequently do, how I have for so many years continued an equal interest in medicine and the poem, I reply that they amount for me to nearly the same thing.
prepared sleeping sure thus wise
Thus having prepared their budsagainst a sure winterthe wise treesstand sleeping in the cold.
against buds prepared sleeping stand sure thus trees winter wise
Thus having prepared their buds against a sure winter the wise trees stand sleeping in the cold.
change discovered exploded forms language living meanings poems thus
Times change and forms and their meanings alter. Thus new poems are necessary. Their forms must be discovered in the living language of their day, or old forms, embodying exploded concepts, will tyrannize over the imagination.
blind lives
We are blind and live our blind lives out in blindness.