Photos by Lynda McKinney Lambert  

Winter Trees
bY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

Note:  This poem was previously published on “Walking by Inner Vision,” on March 13, 2014.

***

William Carlos Williams is one of my favorite modernist poets. He was a family physician who jotted down fragments of his poetry on the pages of prescription pads and in notebooks in  his car when he made his rounds to see patients.  He wrote  poems  in between driving to visit his patients in their homes or at the hospital.  I believe Williams  had a unique perspective on every aspect of life through his profession. He wrote about what he saw as he lived his life of service as a family doctor.  He focused on individuals, objects, buildings,  and nature and celebrated the extraordinary aspects of everyday, mundane  life. In this exquisite  poem, he celebrates winter and gives us the feeling that every living thing anticipates and prepares for  the changing seasons.  In the poem, we begin to see beyond the snowfall, and into the very essence of the  life force in the woods.

***

This morning the words of this poem came back to my mind as I looked out the window at a  pristine, snow covered landscape.
Soon, my two dogs and I walked out into the newly falling snow as we do every morning. I shoveled the sidewalks, then came back into the kitchen to have my morning coffee.
I remember there is glory awaiting me  every moment , each day.

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Journal Assignment #3:  Paint a  Landscape

Read the poem, Winter Trees,  by William Carlos Williams over a few times. Allow his words to form a picture in your mind.

Do you see the picture he has painted with his words?

Look at how he mingles his imagination with the actual sight of the winter trees in his descriptive poem.

Look out your window.  Imagine the window as the frame around a painting.

Imagine this window view as a painting hanging on your wall.  What room is it in?

Imagine you will be painting this picture.  Describe  what colors  you will put into this painting.

Describe what you see in your window view, and how you will bring it to life on your canvas. Paint your piecture with words.

In your descriptions of this painting/window view ,   use words that evoke  our senses:  touch, smell, taste, sight, sound.

Now, combine the description you have created with a memory from your past.  Weave these two aspects together to complete your writing assignment today.

Published by Lynda McKinney Lambert.

Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.

Note: This original Lesson #3 for the Writing by Inner Vision Personal Journal has been updated on January 27, 2019.
For the UPDATED VERSION, please go to this page: Click here for 2019 updated Assignment #3 page.