William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) wrote twenty-five poetry collections, including Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems, posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He published twenty-seven other works—stories, poems, plays, novels, critical essays, and correspondence—though his main occupation was as a pediatrician. However, writing at night took its toll, and Williams was hospitalized for depression in 1953. “No ideas but in things” summarizes his poetic method, brilliantly illustrated in “The Red Wheelbarrow.”

The Birds

by William Carlos Williams

The world begins again!
Not wholly insufflated
the blackbirds in the rain
upon the dead topbranches
of the living tree,
stuck fast to the low clouds,
notate the dawn.

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