Avery+Activity

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

For my poetry activity, I would read the poem aloud and then have students read the poem above, and give me their initial impressions of the poem. What is it saying? Who wrote it? Who was it written for? They would journal their thoughts and we would engage in a brief group discussion about the poem. After hearing responses from students, I would then tell them some other critical information on the poem and share my interpretation. This was written to sound as if it was written left on a refrigerator, or maybe an icebox. It is classified as a found poem, which is a poem that is created from other text sources. The text is reframed into poem form. Hence, this could have been created from a simple note left by a husband who was in a rush out the door to work, grabbed the last of the plums for his breakfast, and in hindsight realized his wife wouldn't be too happy with him.

I'd then ask students to create their own "note" found poetry. Think of a brief note you have left someone, or would leave someone, or a note someone has given to you. A message for mom to tell her you were at a friends house, a note from a friend, scribblings in your own diary, there are many choices. You must use the first line "this is just to say..." and then create your own stanzas after that. After completing a poem, I want you to leave your poem in the place in your home where it would typically be left or found. Do not tell your family or friends what it is, but simply leave it and record their reactions to the poem. See if they recognize it as a poem, or simply think you don't know how to write prose properly and forgot your punctuation. After 2 days, we'll regroup as a class and share our findings.

Model poem:

This is just to say

I used the last of our minty toothpaste

I needed to be rid of my smelly breath.

I'm sorry that your breath will smell badly today.