Years ago, I worked in a library…
Incongruities
So little depends
upon
the half-Japanese
bookman
reading Italian
haiku
in the Texas
library.
Once again, my apologies to William Carlos Williams, whose poetry inspires and therefore often bears the brunt of my little diversions into whimsy.
O at the Edges 
I love William Carlos Williams because he wrote strikingly beautiful poetry that seemed nothing like poetry. It makes me feel better when people tell me that my poetry doesn’t push language far enough to be poetry. Sometimes the poetry is in what is between the lines and not what is on the lines.
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Exactly! The unwritten, the unsaid, may be as crucial to the poem as what’s on the page.
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One of my favorite memories is talking with a Bulgarian in Spanish about a medieval Ethiopian manuscript in an Idaho library.
Or speaking Russian with a Liberian in a Home Depot in Pittsburgh.
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My first experience with Chinese food was in Naples, Italy. 🙂
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nice
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Thank you.
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Eating a cold plum
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Ha!
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Speaking French with an elderly Vietnamese man in a small town in Pennsylvania… I love incongruities. Cheers!
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Oh, yes. When I was a child my Japanese mother’s favorite record album was Ray Charles singing Hank Williams. Incongruities everywhere!
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Dangit, I came here for barnyard animals. Needs chickens!!! 😉 But seriously, love it, Bob! (Do you like WCW’s Paterson series or his Brueghel works as well? I prefer those to his shorter stuff, though the good doctor does have his way with imagistic pieces too. Just not quite my realm.)
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No chickens here (but there are a couple of Chihuahuas). I do like both of those, too, but have a particular fondness for his shorter work, probably because it’s easier to memorize. 🙂
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i often speak to myself. but i don’t understand. it’s either earwax or insanity.
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Perhaps you should hire a translator? One who speaks only in tongues. That should do it.
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yes. brilliant. i’ll hire myself.
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Just be sure to overpay yourself.
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Admire William Carlos Williams but love the more political edge his disciple Alan Ginsberg introduced. Your poem, however, is quietly subversive and therefore very satisfying.
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I revel in the subversive.
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If not for our archived experiences/memories, how would we develop our styles?
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So true!
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mmm… reminds me that best American food is Mexican food 😀 😀
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Ha!
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🙂
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I’m looking for the white chickens!
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Well, I’m having one for dinner tonight – roasted, stuffed with seared lemon halves, rosemary and garlic. 🙂
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Gotta love a red wheelbarrow mention!
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Yes, we must!
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I’ve done the same to the poor fellow.
You know what they say about mockery…
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Then I am in good company!
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I like the way the conversation moved from languages to foods 🙂
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This seems to happen quite often!
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the only word for poetry like that is… Genius
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Ha!
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ROFLMAO!!
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Glad you liked it, Gary. I sometimes get accused of being too serious…
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I reword williams often too, especially when thinking about my parents kitchen.
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He’s offered much to us.
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Stellar!
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Thank you!
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