Count me in on the poetry parodies

This Facebook-as-William-Carlos-Williams poem was so good, I felt compelled to read the writer’s analysis of the Alberta budget that came afterward.

(Takeaway: Things don’t look so hot for the NDP. Question: How did the NDP come to govern Alberta?)

I have repurposed
the data
that were in
your personal profile

and which
you were probably
saving
for friends

Forgive me
they were politically useful
so lucrative
and [WHICH WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS POEM ARE YOU?? TAKE OUR QUIZ CLICK HERE]
—Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

— Jason Markusoff (@markusoff) March 21, 2018

As poets go, William Carlos Williams was always my guy. I like my reading straightforward, which is probably why I’m not great with poetry, fiction or navel-gazing art museum labels.

Not a problem with WCW.

https://twitter.com/stisalpeis/status/976341395605606401?s=21

Between that, not being a fan of Emily Dickenson and insisting on answering “whatever the writer says it is” when she would ask, “What is poetry?” it caused some friction with one of my English professors … as much tension as there could be over poetry in a freshman-level English class. (We actually wound up being friends, to the point of when she took over the college’s Writing Center, she had me explain something to my fellow tutors, because I was the only one who knew it.)

What I didn’t know until my wife told me this morning was that parody Williams poems are a thing people do on Twitter. For instance, I immediately sent this one to my pizza- and PR pitches-obsessed friends at @bitter_journo.

https://twitter.com/maxjrosenthal/status/963545432109539331?s=21

And then there was this one about a certain refrigerator-pilfering.

https://twitter.com/bkesling/status/888545416316198912?s=21

The inspiration is, of course, Williams’ “This Is Just To Say.”

https://twitter.com/fall971029/status/973085121132691458?s=21

As far as I’m concerned, this poem is underrated as a work of genius. He took a classic Dumb Husband Move and made it art!

And if there’s anything I know about, it’s Dumb Husband Moves.

I broke

the wine glass

in the sink.

My hands

were wet;

I’m a klutz,

and it slipped.

The good news is that we have other wine glasses, so my wife didn’t get upset.