Here I am, shopping for books over the Internet on Christmas Eve. This morning I suddenly realized that two of the books I look for every time I go into a used book store could probably be found very easily online, and I was right. So I ordered them. Of course, that takes some of the the fun out of browsing at used book stores for a while. Time for two poems, the first by William Carlos Williams.

This Is Just to Say

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

Isn't that nice? Now this one's by Kenneth Koch.

Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams

1

I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.

I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do and its wooden

beams were so inviting.

2

We laughed at the hollyhocks together

and then I sprayed them with lye.

Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

3

I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.

The man who asked for it was shabby

and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

4

Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.

Forgive me. I was clumsy, and

I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor.