Q: What is the meaning behind the title “Save Me the Plums”?
A: The title is taken from a poem by William Carlos Williams called “This Is Just To Say,” which is not only my favorite poem, but one that is very well known by many food people. You say the word “plum” to a food person, and instantly they’ll go, “I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox.” It’s become a meme on Twitter, where people will often paraphrase it for other things.
I love William Carlos Williams too - but that poem is so clearly a note left by a selfish asshole, basically a straight-up statement of theft, or you might say appropriation. No wonder I suppose that it’s such a favorite among professional “food people.”:
This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Here’s one of the best (and earliest) parodies of it, by Kenneth Koch:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57326/variations-on-a-theme-by-william-carlos-williams
