In the Carolinas

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"In the Carolinas", the third poem in Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, Harmonium, experiments with a dramatic shift from languid meditation to a startling image of an aspic nipple, the aspish nipple of mother nature, and joltingly italicized first-person expressions of subjective response.

In the Carolinas  The lilacs wither in the Carolinas.  Already the butterflies flutter above the cabins.  Already the new-born children interpret love  In the voices of mothers.  Timeless mother,  How is it that your aspic nipples  For once vent honey?  The pine tree sweetens my body  The white iris beautifies me.