Saturday, July 31, 2010

a white desire

growing wild and welcomed in my back garden




her body is not so white as
anemony petals nor so smooth—nor
so remote a thing. it is a field
of the wild carrot taking
the field by force; the grass
does not raise above it.
here is no question of whiteness,
white as can be, with a purple mole
at the center of each flower.
each flower is a hand’s span
of her whiteness. wherever
his hand has lain there is
a tiny purple blemish. each part
is a blossom under his touch
to which the fibres of her being
stem one by one, each to its end,
until the whole field is a
white desire, empty, a single stem,
a cluster, flower by flower,
a pious wish to whiteness gone over—
or not

14 comments:

Joanna said...

I also love Queen Anne's lace. It's such a sturdy yet delicate flower. Beautiful geometry.

Noelle Clearwater said...

Lovely photograph of Queen Anne's Lace. A very sensual description by William Carlos Williams. I find it quite intriguing, particularly the use of "Pious wish" at the end of the poem.

Elisabeth said...

Exquisite, Steven. I have always loved the name of this flower too - the idea of the lace of royalty. Thanks

Jinksy said...

Guipure lace, of course...

Bee said...

Wild poem -- beautiful, but slightly disturbing. I particularly like the line about "the wild carrot taking the field by force."

Not a lot of white in my garden right now . . . at this time of year, everything seems to be purple!

CiCi said...

Queen Anne's Lace is so delicate and sweet. I have always been partial to it. You have a great photo of it.

ellen abbott said...

cool pic. It's one of my wild favs.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I didn't know that poem, steven, it is delightful and so evocative of Queen Anne's Lace, which is everywhere here at the moment.

Linda Sue said...

QUEENLY!

Tess Kincaid said...

When I was a little girl, I loved to turn Queen Anne's Lace blossoms upside down and pretend they were dancing ladies.

Reya Mellicker said...

Oh! You're back (a few days now) from your family journey. Welcome home (belatedly).

We're into your birthday season. How are you? xx

steven said...

reya (and fascinated onlookers) we got back this afternoon from prince edward island. i had a nasty case of the bad oyster slide through the night so at this point i've had two hours sleep since thursday night. i'm wiped. but! i have a amazing photographs. amazing experiences and memories and tomorrow i'll be out on my first real bike ride in over a week. hurray! steven

Rachel Fenton said...

OOh, "oyster slide" does not sound like a nice ride! Hope you're good for the bike!

So many of the images you chooses remind of lace...

Titus said...

I love the "wild and welcome".