Pages

Saturday, July 22, 2023

The Hunter / William Carlos Williams


The Hunter

In the flashes and black shadows
of July
the days, locked in each other’s arms,
seem still
so that squirrels and colored birds
go about at ease over
the branches and through the air.

Where will a shoulder split or
a forehead open and victory be?

Nowhere.
Both sides grow older.

And you may be sure
not one leaf will lift itself
from the ground
and become fast to a twig again.

~~
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
from Sour Grapes, 1921

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]


Hansueli Krapf, Lightning bolts strike in Switzerland, July 2009. 

2 comments:

  1. Always a pleasure to see the poetics of WCW...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cathleen Harvea GuthrieSeptember 26, 2023 at 4:52 AM

    Love the last stanza. The poet thinks with creative ingenuity... being clever, original, and inventive. πŸ’ŸπŸ’ŸπŸ’ŸπŸ’ŸπŸ’ŸπŸ’Ÿ

    ReplyDelete