Short Poems: Exquisite Little Vessels of Thought

Poets generally tend to agonize over the selection and deployment of each and every word. When a poem only uses a few dozen words, each one becomes extremely important.

Here are a few lovely small poems:




This Is Just to Say

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

- William Carlos Williams (1934)

Separation

Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.

- W. S. Merwin (1973)

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