Red Wheel Barrow
expounding upon a simple image poem
Red Wheel Barrow by William Carlos William
So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Wooden Yellow Pencil
So much depends
upon
a wooden yellow
pencil
with worn out
eraser
covered with small
nicks.
Grey Metal Knife
So much depends
upon
a grey metal
knife
with soft worn
handle
and blade’s edge
dulled.
Single Light Bulb
So much depends
upon
a single light
bulb
in cream colored
lampshade
and gold metal
stand.
How these authors might have written Red Wheel Barrow.
Ezra pound from “The Tree”
I stood still and was a wheel barrow amidst the garden,
Knowing the truth of things unseen before;
Of rain glazed and red colored sides
And that god-feasting couple old
that amid the garden grew.
’Twas not until the white chickens had been
Kindly entreated, and been brought within
Unto the hearth of their heart’s home
That they might do this wonder thing;
Nathless I have been a wheel barrow amidst the garden
And many a new thing understood
That was rank folly to my head before.
John Donne from “No Man is an Island”
No man is a barrow
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the red
A part of the wheel.
If a white chicken be washed away by the sea
The garden is the less.
As well as if a barrow were
As well as if a wheel of
Thine own barrow were
Any rain glazed barrows end diminishes me
Because I am involved in all barrows.
And therefore never send to know for whom the rooster crows;
It crows for thee.
Joyce Kilmer from “Trees”
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a wheel barrow.
A barrow whose rain glazedness is red
Against the gardens sweet dirt;
A barrow that looks at God all day,
And lifts her white chickens up to pray;
A barrow that may in summer wear
A fresh coat of redness made;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a barrow.
