Poetry Plums
- Hiram Larew
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
By Hiram Larew:
National Poetry Month
Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month is a special occasion that celebrates poets’ integral role in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets,
marking poetry’s important place in our lives.
There’s no telling when you’ll need them. And there’s still less accounting for their remarkable flavors.
But, you know as well as I do that poems have always been the very treat we need—a gift to all of our senses and times. Yes, their tart-sweetness is the ripe we deserve. Especially just now.
So, as you will or as you may, walk those orchards where poems abound on branches. With birds just above. And with full skies behind.
Then pick one or two—the ones that are winking.
Most of all, linger. Devote what time you can to savoring poetry plums—their bright-dark colors, those juices. From the skin to the stone. Trust them completely for all they are worth.
And of course, carry some home. For later. As your day turns its corner.
And as you care to, join me with napkin in hand in thanking Mr. Williams for his poem:
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
Copyright Credit: William Carlos Williams, ''This Is Just to Say'' from The Collected Poems: Volume I, 1909–1939, copyright ©1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp.
Hiram Larew, founder of the informal Poetry X Hunger initiative created in 2017 as a way to bring two areas of interest—poetry and hunger prevention—together. Upon retiring from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he helped guide international agriculture programs, he noticed that relatively little poetry about hunger was available. Believing in the power of poetry to touch hearts and minds, he launched Poetry X Hunger as a way to encourage poets to write about hunger.
To order his newest book of poetry, This Much Very, and to read more about Hiram and his work, visit his websites:
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