SO MUCH DEPENDS...

I wrote a short story this week and began it with 'So much depends.' The words came out naturally, immediately pointing to William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow."

I remember the first time I heard it. I was at the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo Village, NJ back in the mid-90s. The space between the sparse words are saturated with emotion, ravine deep. The poem stops me in my tracks and the mystery of it is elusive. A pregnant whisper, it declares a secret. 'So much' is life and all that rushes forth from a rainy day on a farm. Life is filled with paradox and a red wheelbarrow amongst chickens waits to carry us on our journey of trials and tribulations, joy and sadness, right and wrong, simple and complex.

How does the poem speak to you?

By Elizabeth C. Millar

photo credit: Getty Images

The Red Wheelbarrow

By William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens