The Turtle

            By William
Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

            
               (posted Wednesday, Nov.
26)
            

            To hear Robert Pinsky read
"The Turtle," click .

            In the
genre of the commissioned poem, there are not many as charming as this one.
When Williams addresses the child as his noble patron ("my Lord") and alludes
to the old myth of the tortoise that supports the universe, he slyly introduces
the underlying weight of civilization and history into the interchange between
him and the child. The matter-of-fact acceptance of the violence in the child's
imagination is an interesting aspect of Williams' own omnivorous imagination. I
don't think any other poet has succeeded in using the American word "car" as
effectively as Williams does in this poem and others.

            -- Robert Pinsky
            

            Not because of his eyes,  
  the eyes of a bird,          but because he is beaked,

            birdlike, to do an injury,
    has the turtle attracted you.          He is your only pet.

            When we are together    
you talk of nothing else          ascribing all sortsof murderous motives    
to his least action.          You ask meto write a poem,     should I have a
poem to write,          about a turtle.

            The turtle lives in the
mud     but is not mud-like,          you can tell it by his eyeswhich are
clear.     When he shall escape          his present confinementhe will stride
about the world     destroying all          with his sharp beak.Whatever
opposes him     in the streets of the city          shall go down.

            Cars will be overturned.  
  And upon his back           shall ride,to his conquests,     my Lord,        
 you!

            You shall
be master!     In the beginning          there was a great tortoisewho
supported the world.     Upon him          All ultimatelyrests.     Without him
         nothing will stand.He is all wise     and can outrun the hare.        
 In the nighthis eyes carry him     to unknown places.          He is your
friend.