The poetry of Carlos Williams is some of the most intriguing yet odd works of literature that I have ever encountered. Untraditional in nature, Williams awed me with his unique style and at the same time, left me shaking my head with a smile at some of his pieces. In the video we viewed in class, Williams said that he stressed simplicity and wrote his poetry with the philosophy of "it is what it is." Although many of his poems can be taken at their face value with the "it is what it is" attitude, I felt that some of Williams work went deeper than the initial image conjured up by his almost hypnotic use of words.
             One such example is found in my favorite poem by Williams entitled "Danse Russe." If we take this poem at face value, we envision a grown man prancing about naked in front of a mirror while the rest of his family sleeps only pausing to marvel at his own body and genius. I think that to stop the interpretation and just take it for what it is would be a disappointing injustice. This poem in particular needs to be read repeatedly and with each reading, something new can be contrived from it.
             The first time you read "Danse Russe," you picture the whole scenario and make a quick mental inventory of the events taking place. If we just stopped there and didn't read the poem again, the first aspect that would be lost is the social commentary taking place that not only applied to Williams's era, but to ours as well. Even to this day, we still look at nudity as being taboo and the idea of enjoying our own nakedness as being perverse. Williams addresses this social attitude by describing his dance naked as "grotesquely." This description is almost made in a facetious manner as Williams goes on to list parts of his body that he admires dispelling the idea that he believes that his naked romp is anything but grotesque. In my opinion, by acknowledging and accepting this bel...