William Carlos Williams

The crowd at the ball game

by a spirit of uselessnesswhich delights them—all the exciting detailof the chaseand the escape, the errorthe flash of genius—all to no end save beautythe eternal—So in detail they, the crowd,are beautifulfor thisto be warned againstsaluted and defied—It is alive, venomousit smiles grimlyits words cut—The flashy female with hermother, gets it—The Jew gets it straight— itis…

The dayseye hugging the earth

gone down in purple,weeds stand high in the corn,the rainbeaten furrowis clotted with sorreland crabgrass, thebranch is black underthe heavy mass of the leaves–The sun is upon aslender green stemribbed lengthwise.He lies on his back–it is a woman also–he regards his formermajesty andround the yellow center,split and creviced and done intominute flowerheads, he sends outhis…

It is a small plant

tapering conicallyto a point, each branchand the peak a wire forgreen pods, blind lanternsstarting upward fromthe stalk each way toa pair of prickly edged blueflowerets: it is her regard,a little plant without leaves,a finished thing guardingits secret. Blue eyes—but there are twenty looksin one, alike as forty flowerson twenty stems—Blue eyesa little closed upon a…