This is Just to Say: a Response

Erica-Lynn Gambino

(1969- )

This is Just to Say (for William Carlos Williams)

I have just asked you to get out of my apartment even though you never thought I would Forgive me you were driving me insane

Of course, I and others wondered if William Carlos Williams and Erica Lynn Gambino were actually together in that apartment and the written notes were real messages between them. Not so. Ms. Gambino wrote her response years later for a poetry tutorial class. With the help of Garrison Keillor books on Poetry the poem has taken on a life of its own. Ms. Gambino has made it clear that she is okay if others use her poem, but she would like to be asked if they do so. I don’t think she’d mind its inclusion in a private work like this, One that is shared with very few people and is not sold to anyone. If she were to take issue, I am ready with a response.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY (for Erica-Lynn Gambino)

Rich McGourty

(1949- )

I included your poem

in a compilation

without asking

your permission

even though

you clearly

preferred to

be asked

Forgive me

your poem

was too

perfect