Why are people talking about cold plums on Twitter?
It’s all to do with a poem by William Carlos Williams.
Sometimes Twitter users are overcome with a strange, whimsical feeling which makes a meme, phrase or photo trend for relatively little reason.
This week, everyone is talking about cold plums.
Yep, cold plums.
The subject of cold plums comes from the poem This Is Just To Say written by William Carlos Williams. The poem is structured like a note left for a loved one, and describes how the author has eaten
“the plums
that were in
the icebox”
The poem goes on to ask for forgiveness, saying
“they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold”
For some reason, a small amount of Twitter users began making spoof versions of the poem as early as 2011. There’s even a bot which specifically tweets out version of the poem every day.
However, in the last few days the covers have really taken off. Here are some of the best.
Mambo No. 5-inspired cold plums
Christmas-themed fruit
Biblical cautionary tale plums
Outkast plums
Vanilla Ice Ice plums
Jane Austen plums
Twitter users have once again proven they are a talented bunch, and now many more people know about the work of William Carlos Williams.