Smell



Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowed
nose of mine! what will you not be smelling?
What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose,
always indiscriminate, always unashamed,
and now it is the souring flowers of the bedreggled
poplars: a festering pulp on the wet earth
beneath them. With what deep thirst
we quicken our desires
to that rank odor of a passing springtime!
Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardors
for something less unlovely? What girl will care
for us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?
Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?
Must you have a part in everything?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

33 sec read
122

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDAEFGHCIJBB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 623
Words 111
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams was a Latino-American poet closely associated with modernism and imagism. more…

All William Carlos Williams poems | William Carlos Williams Books

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    "Smell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/39693/smell>.

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