Madeleine Findlay's Haibun

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

William Carlos Williams

In writing memoir haibun, I have begun a process that turns up a lot of significant times.
This poem was one of the things that surfaced recently and I wanted to study it to try and see what was happening at the time I first read it and why it was so important.

Williams wrote poetry that was rooted in simple, everyday images with an internal sound system that he called the “variable foot.” For him this short, modern style that used heavy enjambment reflected the brevity found in newspapers and radio broadcasts. “The Red Wheelbarrow” consists of 8 lines that mentally divide into 4 couplets. Rather than rhyme, Williams uses rhythms. For me, the sound of this poem is jazzy. Because of the enjambment, the sense of the lines is not initially clear. For example, “so much depends” needs “upon”, “ a red wheel” needs “barrow” and so on. Also note the contrasts in the big, heavy statements: “so much depends” being followed by small, restful images “upon.” “Glazed with rain” gives a luminous quality to the collection of images until “chickens” followed by a period cuts short the mood with a living thing.

In the late ‘70s, my husband and I had a silk-screen printing business. We did fine art printing for artists as well as commercial work like t-shirts and posters. Despite my artistic background, I had not found a way to express myself. During our usual 2-week summer vacation in the Adirondacks, I picked up a book of poetry and read “The Red Wheelbarrow”. It happened to be raining and as I looked out the window at the glazed surfaces of the rocks, pines and shingles, I recognized something about participation. Despite years of search after that, it wasn’t until I read my first haiku that this feeling of connection locked.

Writing and seeing come together.

snow on snow --
light is more luminous
late in the day