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
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I have eaten the plums, meant for another time and place..now gone, so delicious, i ate them all; there are many ways to say something endearing, and one is that i know i will be give pleasure for enjoying any/every part of a relationship...PK
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Aber Stevens Sagte
From guest Edgar Garcia (contact)
The imagination, here, could not evade, in poems of plums, the strict austerity of one vast, subjugating, final tone... -
Sweet revenge is best served cold
From guest Maria (contact)
Unrequited love. Perhaps he was relishing the plums his love was saving for her love. -
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There is no apology here. He is merely stating a fact - he ate the plums, they were delicious, he actually asks for forgivness in the final stanza but he isn't sorry at all.
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formalities, formalities, tsk tsk tsk
From guest Phil (contact)
His apology is nothing more than a formality... disgusting -
For me, this poem demonstrates a long-term intimacy with the addressee. He is not sorry, and doesn't say he is. He also knows that the plums were probably being saved for his breakfast. He is acknowledging that he has disrupted a minor household routine, and the poem/note is an indication of his warm regard and appreciation.
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yes, Carlos is giving us the cat who ate the canary here.
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Actually, there is no apology made at all, and I always saw it as a jab. He does not say "this is just to say I am sorry," no, he says, "this is just to say I have eaten"
He makes it clear that he believes the plums were probably for someone else, and makes a point of telling them how cold and delicious they were. He asks for forgiveness without saying he is sorry. -
This poem is actually more than it seems. It is about the truthfulness of apologies. Do you really think this guy was that sorry that he ate the plums? If he was, he wouldn't have eaten them! This is his sort of social commentary, saying apologies really don't mean that much, you just use them to clear your own guilt.
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My god, this is one of the most beautiful poems of the 20th Century. The simplistic voice here of Williams is capable of much more than an apology. When I read this poem, I do not just imagine the actions in the poem, but rather, I ponder the people who are engaged in the poem. For example: What sort of relationship did the plum eater have to the plum saver? This strikes me as a conversation that I would want to have with my future lover (wherever she may be). I just love how Williams fills the mind with so many thoughts with just a simple 3 stanza piece on delectable plums. Think of the taste of cold plums, whether or not you've actually experienced them. Now, I am forever enamored by their taste because of this poem. Due to its brevity, I can recall it all in any instant and be refreshed by it. My hunger stirs even now.
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As if he ate something in which he shouldn't have: he couldn't help himself. As to not hide it he of course apologized for taking the thing in which was not his, the 'plum'.
A nice short thought/piece that Williams has written here, nothing more than that I feel.
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