Saturday, November 14, 2009

just pretend it's pronounced with a drunken slur.


This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the ice box

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were so delicious
so sweet
so cold
-- William Carlos Williams

Jist to Let Yi No
ahv drank
thi speshlz*
that wurrin
thi frij

n thit
yiwurr probbli
hodn back
furthi pahrti

awright
they wur great
thaht stroang
thaht cawld.
-- Tom Leonard

*speshlz- cans of beer

here Leonard moves William's poem into Glaswegian pronunciation based on phonetic translation. note the move from plums to cans of beer, as well as from "forgive me" to "awright" in the last stanzas. studying in Scotland, this is basically the coolest thing i've ever read.

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