The Young Housewife
From Off the Road Database
Author | Williams, William Carlos |
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Genre | Poetry |
Journal or Book | William Carlos Williams. The Collected Poems Volume I 1909-1939 |
Publisher | New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation |
Year of Publication | 2000 |
Pages | 57 |
Additional information | The poem was originally published in 1916. |
The Young Housewife
At ten A.M. the young housewife
moves about in negligee behind
the wooden walls of her husband's house.
I pass solitary in my car.
Then again she comes to the curb
to call the ice-man, fish-man, and stands
shy, uncorseted, tucking in
stray ends of hair, and I compare her
to a fallen leaf.
The noiseless wheels of my car
rush with a crackling sound over
dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.