Considered by many to be the most characteristically American of our twentieth-century poets, William Carlos Williams "wanted to write a poem / that you would understand / ,,,But you got to try hard—." So that readers could more fully understand the extent of Williams' radical simplicity, all of his published poetry, excluding Paterson, was reissued in two definite volumes, of which this is the first.

Collection of poems of William Carlos Williams from 1939-1962

Fine selection of early verse by influential ("no ideas but in things") American poet includes "Peace on Earth," "Willow Poem," "Queen-Anne's-Lace," "Tract," "El Hombre," "Danse Russe," "Keller Gegen Dom," "Portrait of a Lady," "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," many more.

WCW, I Wanted to Write a Poem. Williams discusses the procedure of poetry.

A dozen poems on love by a New Jersey obstetrician (1883-1963) who often wrote them on office prescription pads. In the title poem, first published when he was 72, he wrote: "What power has love but forgiveness? / In other words / by its intervention / what has been done / can be undone."