https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=50.222.162.3 2026-05-22T13:08:07Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3209:_Plums&diff=411856 2026-05-06T17:21:19Z

<p>50.222.162.3: /* Explanation */</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 3209<br /> | date = February 18, 2026<br /> | title = Plums<br /> | image = plums_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 251x409px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|This page was created by a rebellious icebox. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br /> This is a reference to the {{w|William Carlos Williams}} poem [https://poets.org/poem/just-say This Is Just to Say], in which the narrator gives an apology (possibly [https://poemanalysis.com/william-carlos-williams/this-is-just-to-say/ sincere], possibly [https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/william-carlos-williams/this-is-just-to-say insincere]) for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that [[Cueball]] (not likely intended to actually be William Carlos Williams given the laptop) learns that the person out of view has left themselves some plums in the refrigerator for tomorrow, and cannot resist doing something that he should not (maybe eating them, maybe using them as bait - as in the title text) because he recognizes the situation from the poem.<br /> <br /> The title text is another joke about trapping poets with situations based on their own poems. Since William Carlos Williams confessed he has a hard time resisting plums in a refrigerator potentially left for breakfast, they are perfect bait to capture him. The text compares this poet trap to one inspired by another well-known poem, [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken|The Road Not Taken] by Robert Frost, which was referenced in another comic, [[3076: The Roads Both Taken]]. Constructing a network of infinitely branching paths seems physically impossible [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|for Cueball]], though some kind of circular or looping arrangement might work. The choice that Frost makes would change over time in such an arrangement, if he always takes the one less traveled by, so this could prove complex. Additionally, if the journey takes more than a day, then the path more traveled (which was saved for another day) would also be an option.<br /> <br /> If we take the speaker of the title text to be the off-screen speaker, they were not planning to eat the plums for breakfast. Instead, they were setting a trap for William Carlos Williams. In this case, Cueball might have recognized their intention and considered eating or otherwise removing the plums to rescue the poet. (Though in that case, we know he did not do it since the trap was successful.)<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop on it. He is looking backward towards someone offscreen.]<br /> :Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.<br /> :Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.<br /> :Out of view: Be back later!<br /> :Cueball [thinking]: Oh no.<br /> :[Caption below the panel]: <br /> :Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't. But how can I not!?<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}&lt;noinclude&gt;<br /> <br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring real people]] &lt;!-- ...maybe. --&gt;<br /> [[Category:Food]]</div>

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