just to say, say, say what you mean

This Is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams

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

----------
Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams
by Kenneth Koch

1I 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.

2We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

3I 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.

4Last 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!

----------
More Variants on Williams
by me

#1
This morning
I smashed
your favorite
cukoo clock

the one you
were planning to
give Dan when
you died.

Forgive me.
I simply enjoy
killing
wooden birds.

#2
Today you came
in
from New York
to visit me

And I left you
alone
at a Christian
College.

Forgive me.
I've always enjoyed
watching
Buddhists die slowly.

#3
Today I erased
all the files
from your
hard drive

Which you were
intending
to use for your
thesis.

Forgive me.
I needed a
new,
gray coffeetable.