Tuesday, August 17, 2010

What matters most

This has always been one of my favorite William Carlos Williams poems (although I also love '13 ways of Looking at a Blackbird.')--
Both reflect on perspective.  This one elevates the simple to the extraordinary, something I'd like to do if there were less noise in my head.

Poem #83- The Red Wheelbarrow


so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow


glazed with rain

water


beside the white

chickens.

-- William Carlos Williams

2 comments:

chrissie said...

Wow--I remember so vividly reading this in high school. I remember being stunned by the imagery, innately sort of "getting" it (or getting it in my own way, which is all that matters with poetry, right?) And my classmates were all like, "does the chicken represent death or something?"

Emmy said...

Ha! Your comments about your high school English class make me laugh! They are so opposite the true meaning...looking for something deeper, more symbolic, and completely missing simple beauty...of words, of necessity, of color.