Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Artist

The Artist
Mr T.
bareheaded
in a soiled undershirt
his hair standing out
on all sides
stood on his toes
heels together

484
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Cold Night

The Cold Night
It is cold. The white moon
is up among her scattered stars--
like the bare thighs of
the Police Sergeant's wife--among
her…

302
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace
Her body is not so white as
anemone petals nor so smooth--nor
so remote a thing. It is a field
of the wild carrot taking

492
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Smell

Smell
Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowed
nose of mine! what will you not be smelling?
What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose,
always…

423
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Portrait of a Lady

Portrait of a Lady
Your thighs are appletrees
whose blossoms touch the sky.
Which sky? The sky
where Watteau hung a lady's
slipper. Your …

338
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Poem

Poem
As the cat
climbed over
the top of
the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot
carefully
then the hind
st…

286
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Overture to a Dance of Locomotives

Overture to a Dance of Locomotives
Men with picked voices chant the names
of cities in a huge gallery: promises
that pull through descending stairways

546
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth
The Archer is wake!
The Swan is flying!
Gold against blue
An Arrow is lying.
There is hunting in heaven--
Sleep sa…

413
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Nantucket

Nantucket
Flowers through the window
lavender and yellow
changed by white curtains –
Smell of cleanliness –
Sunshine of late afternoon – …

370
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Memory of April

Memory of April
You say love is this, love is that:
Poplar tassels, willow tendrils
the wind and the rain comb,
tinkle and drip, tinkle and drip-…

340
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Love Song

Love Song
I lie here thinking of you:---
the stain of love
is upon the world!
Yellow, yellow, yellow
it eats into the leaves,
sme…

425
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Light Hearted Author

Light Hearted Author
The birches are mad with green points
the wood's edge is burning with their green,
burning, seething--No, no, no.
The birche…

370
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

January Morning

January Morning
I
I have discovered that most of
the beauties of travel are due to
the strange hours we keep to see them:
the domes of the…

489
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Hunters in the Snow

Hunters in the Snow
The over-all picture is winter
icy mountains
in the background the return
from the hunt it is toward evening
from the…

472
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Heel & Toe To The End

Heel & Toe To The End
Gagarin says, in ecstasy,
he could have
gone on forever
he floated
at and sang
and when he emerged from…

310
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Great Mullen

Great Mullen
One leaves his leaves at home
beomg a mullen and sends up a lighthouse
to peer from: I will have my way,
yellow--A mast with a lante…

422
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

from

from
Of asphodel, that greeny flower,
like a buttercup
upon its branching stemsave
that it's green and wooden-
I come, my sweet,

490
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Epitaph

Epitaph
An old willow with hollow branches
slowly swayed his few high gright tendrils
and sang:
Love is a young green willow
shimmering a…

506
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Daisy

Daisy
The dayseye hugging the earth
in August, ha! Spring is
gone down in purple,
weeds stand high in the corn,
the rainbeaten furrow

460
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Dawn

Dawn
Ecstatic bird songs pound
the hollow vastness of the sky
with metallic clinkings--
beating color up into it
at a far edge,--beating …

310
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Blizzard

Blizzard
Snow falls:
years of anger following
hours that float idly down --
the blizzard
drifts its weight
deeper and deeper for …

295
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Complaint

Complaint
They call me and I go.
It is a frozen road
past midnight, a dust
of snow caught
in the rigid wheeltracks.
The door open…

432
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Arrival

Arrival
And yet one arrives somehow,
finds himself loosening the hooks of
her dress
in a strange bedroom--
feels the autumn
dropp…

392
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Après le Bain

Après le Bain
I gotta
buy me a new
girdle.
(I'll buy
you one) O.K.
(I wish
you'd wiggle
that way
f…

414