Kenneth Koch, 1962
You probably know Williams' (quasi)poem This is Just to Say. And since you're reading this on an MIT website, you probably know the Error 404 haiku it inspired. Variations on a Theme is in the same vein... I saw it and fell over laughing.
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind was so juicy and cold.
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy, and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!