{"id":8546,"date":"2025-04-04T08:19:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8546"},"modified":"2025-04-04T08:19:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:19:18","slug":"william-carlos-williams-it-is-difficult-to-get-the-news-from-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/04\/william-carlos-williams-it-is-difficult-to-get-the-news-from-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"William Carlos Williams – It is difficult to get the news from poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is difficult to get the news (from Asphodel That Greeny Flower)
\nby William Carlos Williams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is difficult
\nto get the news from poems
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 yet men die miserably every day
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for lack
\nof what is found there.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams: Volume II 1939-1962<\/a>, by William Carlos Williams<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Brad Starkey<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I was recently reminded of this poem by the wonderful Kim Rosen, author of Saved by a Poem<\/i>. I call it a poem, but it is actually an excerpt from a much longer poem, yet these few lines stand alone.<\/p>\n

With so much uncertainty about us, with suffering on the rise, it is natural to amp up our anxieties in response, wanting to \u201cmake things right\u201d but without really knowing what to do. It can become a cycle of fear and feeling betrayed, of loud words, louder thoughts, and halting action followed by inaction and numbness.<\/p>\n

Poetry can seem unimportant, even frivolous.<\/p>\n

These aren\u2019t times for simple answers, but I would suggest that the answers are not found in keeping ourselves perpetually plugged in to the recitations of horrors and outrages fed to us through the headlines. We need to remain aware of what is happening in our world, yes, but the news is often not the best source of our news. The real news requires an act of awareness. And connection. Connection with our communities. Importantly, connection with the vulnerable and outliers in our society. Connection, most importantly, with ourselves. And with nature, which is always our home ground.<\/p>\n

The more we nurture these forms of connection, the more we remember what is real and what is important. Through these connections we understand what is actually happening. We also get a better sense of what we can and should do about it. We are reminded that the most powerful actions are not always grand gestures on a global stage; instead, it is often our seemingly small acts of kindness and genuine connection that truly resonate in the world.<\/p>\n

But it is never simply about action. Action without awareness is just movement. Awareness is the key. Seeing what is truly happening, the entire picture, the expanse and the overlooked valleys, this requires awareness. Knowing when to act, how to act, and when to simply glow in the world, this requires awareness.<\/p>\n

What we call the news is not primarily a medium of full-bodied awareness. That is why, though it is difficult, we should do our best to get our news from poems.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is difficult
\nto get the news from poems
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 yet men die miserably every day
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for lack
\nof what is found there.<\/i><\/p>\n

Sending love to you all!<\/p>\n


\n


\n[BOOK LIST REPEATING]
\n<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"William<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nWilliam Carlos Williams<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

US (1883 \u2013 1963) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

More poetry by William Carlos Williams<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is difficult to get the news (from Asphodel That Greeny Flower) by William Carlos Williams \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is difficult to get the news from poems \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 yet men die miserably every day \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for lack of what is found there. \u2014 from The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams: Volume II 1939-1962, by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1412,2495,1430,2585,1446,633,2584],"class_list":["post-8546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-activism","tag-community","tag-connection","tag-news","tag-poetry-2","tag-service","tag-william-carlos-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8547,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546\/revisions\/8547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}