WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS - PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL

Image: The Harvesters by Breughel

I am exactly the kind of fool who pushes poetry to the margins of my reading calendar. I picked this volume up because I had the opportunity to see several of Brueghel’s paintings while in Brussels earlier this month. My interest was rewarded — in stark beauty, the giddy pleasures of small words backed by armies of consideration and truth. I read these poems at sea, where I work now, on a fishing vessel. New to the act of reading while pitching and rolling, I reckoned a book where words are well-spaced on the page would be easier to read. I keep this volume now in my bunk belowdecks. I feel lucky at the conspiracy of factors (Brussels, fishing) that delivered me unto this rich collection at this very moment. Unexpected turns in my life remind me, in themselves, of the movements inherent to poetry, as I’m sure poets understand better than I. Read, October 2019.