Wednesday, April 27, 2011

So Much Depends

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

--William Carlos Williams

I love this little poem.  I don't really know what WCW meant when he wrote it, but I have my own understanding, which works for me.  That's the thing I love about poetry:  the reader's connection to something within the poem, from the poet, that creates sort of a shared meaning.  You could use a Venn Diagram to show it all!  (I just thought of that and now I want to try it.) 

I of course connect to this poem more now that I have my sweet chickens: Fanny, Sookie, Ruby Rosamond Rebecca (guess who's responsible for that name), and Rick.  The simple happiness those chickens give me everyday is something.  I love how this poem zeroes in on the importance of this simplicity; ordinary images elevated to something beyond importance, something we depend on.  I love it. 

Owning chickens has pleased me more than I ever could have imagined.  I started loving them very quickly, too.  Who could LOVE a chicken, you may ask. Well, get some for yourself and you'll see.  Soon, you too will change the lyrics to Whitney Houson's 'Greatest Love of All' to 'Greatest Love of Fowl.' (Try it, it totally works...I believe the chickens are our future.)

3 comments:

  1. WOW! Such a confession of LOVE, Meg. And to THAT song?! You're going deep! It's Gonzo-like in it's wonderful obsession.

    Which reminds me... and which I had to look up to support me here... you definitely need to have a "Camilla" when you decide to add another little lady to your family!

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  3. 'An Introduction to Poetry' by X.J. Kennedy?

    Came across this poem three days ago. A note in the book above passes along a report that Dr. Williams supposedly was looking out of his window and saw a patient, a girl, lay suspended in a state between life and death.

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