Sour Grapes (1921)
by
William Carlos Williams

Blueflags

    I stopped the car
    to let the children down
    where the streets end
    in the sun
    at the marsh edge
    and the reeds begin
    and there are small houses
    facing the reeds
    and the blue mist in the distance
    with grapevine trellises
    with grape clusters
    small as strawberries
    on the vines
    and ditches
    running springwater
    that continue the gutters
    with willows over them.
    The reeds begin
    like water at a shore
    their pointed petals waving
    dark green and light.
    But blueflags are blossoming
    in the reeds
    which the children pluck
    chattering in the reeds
    high over their heads
    which they part
    with bare arms to appear
    with fists of flowers
    till in the air
    there comes the smell
    of calmus
    from wet, gummy stalks.

Sources:

Public domain text taken from The Poets’ Corner:
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/wcw-sg3.html#46

CST Approved.

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