World Class Poetry Blog

A Blog Named After A Poem: The Emperor of Ice Cream
3 December 2007, the poet @ 6:48 pm

This is one cool name for a blog. Just in case you’re wondering, it comes from this poem by Wallace Stevens:

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month’s newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal.
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

The poem’s title is “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” published in 1922. Stevens has been a major influence on later poets, including many respected poets who are still living. Stevens died in 1955.

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