Today's poem is by Lew Welch, a somewhat forgotten Beat poet. Welch attended Reed College with Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen in the late 40s/early 50s and met and was encouraged in his writing by William Carlos Williams there. On May 23rd, 1971, he walked out into the woods near Snyder's farm and has never been seen or heard of since. This poem dates from around 1950, and reflects something of the bittersweet humour of much of Welch's work. It also shows fairly clearly that he'd been reading Williams: 'This is Just to Say', particularly in the final lines, and in the cleanness and simplicity of the language, too.
Anecdote of Tangerines
I with fifteen cents to spend
would make a gift of tangerines
walked
47 blocks and back
where they were cheap enough
with 8 fruit bought from the man with a cart
at Paddy's market
so cold it was that day
that when an old lady
lifting up her veil
spit
the spittle on the sidewalk steamed
the son of a bitch slipped 4 spoiled ones in
and the girl phoned up
breaking the date
so I ate them
the 4 remaining tangerines
section by section
alone in my room
spitting the seeds into a dish
they were
sweet
LEW WELCH