On A Diet

By William Matthews 1942–1997 William Matthews

Eat all you want
but don’t swallow it.
—Archie Moore

The ruth of soups and balm of sauces

I renounce equally. What Rorschach saw

in ink I find in the buttery frizzle

in the sauté pan, and I leave it behind,

and the sweet peat-smoke tang of bananas,

and cream in clots, and chocolate. I give

away the satisfactions of food and take

desire for food: I’ll be travelling light

to the heaven of revisions. Why be

adipose: an expense, etc.,

in a waste, etc.? Something like

the body of the poet’s work, with its

pale shadows, begins to pare and replace

the poet’s body, and isn’t it time?

William Matthews, “On a Diet” from Selected Poems and Translations, 1969-1991. Copyright © 1992 by William Matthews. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved, www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

Source: Selected Poems and Translations 1969-1991 (1992)

Biography

William Matthews's poetry has earned him a reputation as a master of well-turned phrases, wise sayings, and rich metaphors. Much of Matthews's poetry explores the themes of life cycles, the passage of time, and the nature of human consciousness. In another type of poem, he focuses on his particular enthusiasms: jazz music, basketball, and his children. His early writing was free-form and epigrammatic. As his career has . . .

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