The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Commentary

Simple, elegant, and wonderfully evocative… this is more painting than poem.

— Thomas

“Reading this poem is like peering at an ordinary object through a pin prick in a piece of cardboard. The fact that the tiny hole arbitrarily frames the object endows it with an exciting freshness that seems to hover on the verge of revelation.”

- Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, Understanding Poetry.

Biography

William Carlos Williams was born September 17, 1883 in Rutherford, New Jersey, to middle-class parents who were lovers of literature and visual art. But Williams showed little interest in art until he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. It was there that he became enamoured with poetry and was for some time torn between his parents’ wishes that he become a doctor and his own, less conventional aspirations. While in Pennsylvania, Williams befriended the poet Ezra Pound, a relationship that he later termed a watershed in his literary career. Pound not only helped Williams develop his aesthetic of magism - a poetic approach that emphasized the concrete over abstractions - but also introduced him to a literary circle that included the flamboyant poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.). By the time Williams completed his studies, he was committed to his writing; yet he still pursued a medical career and maintained a private practice in Rutherford for over forty years. From his medical practice Williams gained not only the financial freedom to write what he wished, but also a rare and intimate insight into the lives of common people.

Williams’s immersion in and attachment to the lives of Rutherford’s townsfolk was mirrored in the aesthetic principles he developed over the years. He consistently advocated and wrote literature that took its themes from ordinary life and its voice from the patterns of common speech. During much of his poetic career, however, these values ran counter to those of the critically acclaimed poetry of the day - namely, the classicist, academic, and formal poetry exemplified by T. S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens. During the 1920s and 1930s Williams labored largely in obscurity; with the publication of the first Paterson volumes in the 1940s, however, he gained wider recognition, and the emerging Beat Movement poets of the 1950s venerated him for his rejection of formalism. Shortly after receiving a Pulitzer Prize, Williams died on March 4, 1963.

The opening lines set the tone for the rest of the poem. Since the poem is composed of one sentence broken up at various intervals, it is truthful to say that “so much depends upon” each line of the poem. This is so because the form of the poem is also its meaning. This may seem confusing, but by the end of the poem the image of the wheelbarrow is seen as the actual poem, as in a painting when one sees an image of an apple, the apple represents an actual object in reality, but since it is part of a painting the apple also becomes the actual piece of art.

Notice how the monosyllabic words in line 3 elongate the line, putting an unusual pause between the word “wheel” and “barrow.” This has the effect of breaking the image down to its most basic parts. The reader feels as though he or she were scrutinizing each part of the scene. Using the sentence as a painter uses line and color, Williams breaks up the words in order to see the object more closely.

The word “glazed” evokes another painterly image. Just as the reader is beginning to notice the wheelbarrow through a closer perspective, the rain transforms it as well, giving it a newer, fresher look. This new vision of the image is what Williams is aiming for.

The last lines offer up the final brushstroke to this “still life” poem. Another color, “white” is used to contrast the earlier “red,” and the unusual view of the ordinary wheelbarrow is complete. Williams, in dissecting the image of the wheelbarrow, has also transformed the common definition of a poem. With careful word choice, attention to language, and unusual stanza breaks Williams has turned an ordinary sentence into poetry.

- from the Gale Poetry Resource Center

http://www.gale.com/gale/poetry/poetset.html

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #83 · 6 May 1999

Poem selected by Martin DeMello

Fair use

Show 54 commentsHide comments

From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

Mike Maguire · 7 July 2000

I feel that the red wheelbarrow is the most simplistic poem that says the most in my experience. it deals with all the senses in a way that brings you back to “moments in time”
the contrast of the white chicken beside the red wheelbarrow is a testament to the colours of the world we live in and that fall within the spectrum of our site. The fact that it is glazed with rain takes you back to the smells of youth when a storm finally breaks and everything is fresh and clean with the sun coming back out. the wheelbarrow is a symbol of moving earth for the purpose of gardening and I think is directly related to the idea of sustenance while the chicken also symbolizes
the need for food and the eggs which were the most amazing childhood surprise of all if you ever had the good fortune of being able to gather them. The opening line of the poem “so much depends” is indicative to me that william carlos williams wanted to write a poem which would create in us a thought process in regards to what is really important in life and link us to memories of our senses in the past based on the exposure an individual had to certain things. I believe this right down to the front wheel of the barrel and the laws of physics which are represented in the actual workings of a wheelbarrow in itself. You can almost imagine a child getting run around the yard in the memorables rides with dads and moms. Maybe i’m adding too much to a poem that is so simple in nature, but I think that stretching the thought process to the limit in this case is exactly what the author wanted us to do. Each one of these thoughts opens up a hundred more doors, adds empathy and feeling to our lives, in a way that can only add to the development of a healthier, more inquisitive mind. By the way when I first read this poem at the age of fourteen I thought it sucked! In bringing
my kids up, we would sit there and discuss all the possibilities at great lengths, and its funny, that at the age of 49 and the kids being 22 and 20, we all still remember the red wheelbarrow.

thank you wcw

mike maguire

Jim Petreszyn · 24 August 2000

Her is my take on Williams “Red Wheel Barrow.” It is not merely the image of the wheelbarrow that is important here, but our own ability to imagine. Where would we be today without imagination. We certainly would have never reached to moon. Williams does a spectacular job of putting such a simple sentence before us and allowing our mind’s eye to picture it so clearly. That is what “so much depends on.”

Spleath2 · 4 October 2000

I have to say the my take on this poem is completely different. The real point of the poem is that so much depends on perspective. It all has to do with where the line breaks are placed. For instance, at the end of the first line of the second stanza the reader is tricked more or less, one pictures a wheel but it is in fact a wheelbarrow. It is too much to explain in this limited space but think about it.

Mel Foisy · 21 October 2000

i have to agree with the person who said that “so much depends upon” perspective. the line breaks show this clearly. It is important to know that the author means “wheel barrow” instead of “wheel” and “rain water” instead of “rain.” take out “barrow” and “water” in the poem and you have a completely different feel for the poem. the poem’s main subject matter even changes, from a wheelbarrow to a wheel. the dichotomy between red and white still remains, but the feel for the poem is different. The “feel” for the poem is really important here because the poet is painting a picture out of a sentence. In art, the artistic take, or “feel,” adds to the overall meaning the viewer/ reader gets out of their experience.

Israel Cohen · 27 August 2001

so much depends upon
ONE MAN
AS [the] CORPOREALIZATION OF [the] MESSIAH
by the HAND of GOD, PRAISE/GLORY To the SON

And here’s why:
Using ? = aleph, KH = het, kh = khaf, 3 = aiyin, a: = vowel “aye”

wheelbarrow = KHaDoFeN < Aramaic KHaD = one + ?oFeN = wheel. red wheelbarrow = KHaDoFeN ?aDoM
KHaD BeN-?aDaM = one + man/human/person

rain water = Ma:-GeSHeM. Glazed = Z’khookhi.
with rainwater glazed = B’Ma:GeSHeM Z’ khookhi B’MaGSHiM MaSHiaKH = as [the] corporealization of + [the] Messiah

Beside the = 3aL YaD Ha-
3aL YaDa: Ha- = by means of, through the ?a:L YaD = hand of God
white chickens = (tarnagol) HoDoo LaVaN
HoDah LaBeN = praise/thanks + to the son HoD = glory

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This same process … Hebrew –> Hebrew pun –> English translation … explains some English idioms. For example:
(cold enough) to freeze the balls off a …

Brass Monkey

The origin of this phrase seems to be Semitic, perhaps Aramaic and finally Arabic. In this phrase, the P-sound (in Hebrew) has become a B-sound as, for example, Naples –> Nablus.

It seems the following Semitic words are involved: peh-lamed-tzadi PeLeTZ = shudder (as from cold) –> peh-lamed-yod-zaiyin P’LiZ = brass
[compare palsy = a condition characterized by body part tremors]

kuf-feh-(vav)oo-aleph KaFoo? = freeze/frozen –> kuf-(vav)oo-feh KooF = monkey

So, first of all, the Semitic equivalent of “brass monkey” is a (near) homonym for, and therefore a pun on, the Semitic equivalent of “shudder-frozen”.

Giving the peh a B-sound and dropping the K causes P’LiZ kaFoo? to sound like
BaLLS oFF.

So what we have here is the transliterated sound of “brass monkey” [probably in Arabic] followed by its translation into English: brass monkey.

By the skin of my teeth

Compare: [to escape] “by the skin of [one’s] teeth”. This phrase means “barely, hardly, with difficulty”. This phrase is a literal translation of Job 19:20, in which Job says that he escaped B’3or SHinai [= with the skin of my teeth]. Giving the 3=aiyin a velar G/K sound, this is a Hebrew homonym/pun on B’KoSHi [= barely, hardly, with difficulty].

best regards,
Israel Cohen

Bill Luoma · 30 January 2002

white chickens
(dick cheney, george bush, j. ashcroft, etc). re this poem is not really a poem but an exceprt from a large poem called Spring and All.
I recommend reading the original

Professor Brian O’blivion

Ken Stephens · 26 September 2002

It’s stupid. Nothing only depends on a wet, red wheel barrow sitting beside white chickens.

darctom · 5 January 2003

I picture a painter saying this to himself as he paints. Maybe he paints the wheel first and the adds the barrel after, adding it into what he is saying too. Then he adds the details and the chickens. This poem is an artist’s thought process. The result is that the chickens wouldn’t be as white and the rain couldn’t glaze anything if it weren’t for the red wheel

…………barrel

BARBARA AMES · 15 January 2003

I have to say that this poem makes no damn sense, all yall must b on crack if u can understand wut its supposed to mean

Debbie Brown · 14 February 2003

this is a great poem dude

Harold McQuestion · 28 August 2003

This is an imagist poem, it is meant to create a picture in your mind - a mental snapshot. Two of my favorite poems that are similar are “i know a man” by Robert Creeley and “In a Station At The Metro” by Ezra pound. I never ask myself what a poem means, I only care if it inspires me or changes my mood or places an 8 X 10 in my mental rolodex.

James Kistner · 15 April 2004

Regarding The Red Wheelbarrow, I now am fully aware of why the facist Pound thought WC Williams works un-American. It wasn’t the race card, Williams had no purpose in his writing, except to divert his attention from the labors that paid for his bread and butter, doctoring. He did not need to have an affinity to ‘mankind’ as Eliot or Pound. He wrote of nothing of import. That is why he claims in this joke, “in all depends”. I bet cash he wrote it while on the crapper. James C. Kistner, Niagara County Community College, NF. NY.

VERITAS TAMETSI CAELA CADANT
“Truth, though the heavens may fall.”

Koolpopoki · 27 May 2004

Last night, I quoted the first part of this poem to one of the people I work with at a consulting firm party. What I meant was that ordinary, everyday things or actions (in my case, a casual conversation with the person I may be replacing on one of the firm’s contracts) can have a very large impact. Also, I had recently done some home landscaping that involved extensive use of a wheelbarrow and had become newly aware of the simple machine’s importance.

I’m amazed at the variety of comments you’ve received, though I’m not sure how seriously to take some of them. I think it’s a wonderful poem.

Melissa Morritt · 7 June 2004

Raaahhh it sucks because poetry sucks fkdjlfkdjakfjdkala the end

Audrey Dittman · 16 September 2004

Ok I personal, hate this peom right now. Simply becasue I know it is supposed to know some significant thing but I CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT!!!Th person who read this poem top me adn some friends last year said that it took him 12 years to fugure out what the white chikens meannt, and he won’t tell me. But this poem is going to Drive me up the wall!!!!

SpiDeRsUniTedx69 · 14 October 2004

Hi, my name is Olivia Williams. I read your review on that poem “The red Wheelbarrow.” i thought i would ask you why you liked it. Personally, i didnt like it at all. I thought it was strangely…stupid. My six year old sister could write the same thing.
Thanks for your time,
Olivia Williams

Brandon Finerty · 29 December 2004

it makes no sense but it ‘s pretty cool

Richard Stead · 13 January 2005

if ever you wanted to think that the universe could be contained within a drop of rainwater read The Red Wheelbarrow

Richard

rocketronny · 14 March 2005

==============================
I love this poem because it stirs people to think. It reminds me that as a self centered human I tend to believe everything in my immediate vicinity can be viewed as being of importance and interconnected. Then I see a Hubble telescope picture of a far away view. I am snapped back to humility by Gods handy work and for me nothing depends so much upon anything.
The Red Wheelbarrow makes me smile and I feel good.

Ron

The Paint Guy · 8 April 2005

I think that it’s amazing that people that do absolutely nothing can do absolutley nothing with popular approval because some critic says that their nothing is inspired. What’s inspired about this? Poetry is significant because of its ability to reach out to human emotion on a different level than just ordinary words. This doesn’t reach out to anyone. Instead, it makes people over-analyze something that is truly meaningless (except maybe to Williams). Are we so starved for poetic talent that this is what we will now consider genius?

The Paint Guy · 8 April 2005

Now, this is real poetry! Can I get some analysis, please?

Mooole rat, Mooole rat
Your face is so beautiful
Mooole rat, mooole rat
Your wings are so flappy and purple
the way the veins pop out are electrifying
Moooole rat, Moooole rat
You are so GREAT!

- The Flying Mole Rat

The Paint Guy · 8 April 2005

Gambrel Robert · 4 May 2005

I like the poem.

The Akey's · 15 May 2005

I think that the red wheelbarrow is a symbol of death and the red is blood of slaughtered chickens that were carried in the wheel barrow , just look at the original writing of the poem each sentence is broken up and the shape of the sentences resemble an axe.

Crystal Smith · 16 May 2005

sorry to include my name….it’s crystal :D

I’m thinking that a wheelbarrow is supposed to be thought of according to its use. It’s used to pile up heavy things and haul them off with relative ease. In the same way it can be used to pile up your problems, stresses, emotional problems that are heavy on their own…and plop them someplace out of your mind. Now the glazed with rain and white chickens part I’m thinking shouldn’t require so much thought. I’m thinking of a wheelbarrow sitting out in the rain beside the chicken coop..almost as if it’s waiting for its next use. The owner knows where it is when he needs it and even neglects it until it’s proven useful for him again.

Crystal Smith · 16 May 2005

Happyg270 · 19 May 2005

April Butcher,

I honestly think this poem makes sense, it makes people think outside the box. I also think that poetry makes people use their imagination. I believe that for some people to make sense of poems they need to have an imagination

Happyg270 · 19 May 2005

I think this poem does actually make some sense. You have to have an imagination, and try to actually picture what is being said in the poem. If you dont have an imagination then yes this poem will not make a bit of sense to you.

Gambrel Robert · 20 May 2005

I think that is a very goo poem because it is short.

Justin Carey

Gambrel Robert · 20 May 2005

I think that the wheelbarrow should be yellow.

PinkAngelLips · 22 May 2005

This poem has shown a good use of imagery. It brings pictures of a pleasent day on a farm to mind. It makes the overall mood quite peaceful and pleasant. Job well done.

Templin2005 · 23 May 2005

Reading the Red Wheelbarrow is about as life changing as watching grass grow. It would be better for you to smack yourself with a brick and run into oncoming traffic than to waste your time reading this meaningless and pointless poem about wheelbarrows and chickens.

MWrestlingman · 15 September 2005

ok people im 16 years old and fully understand this poem!!! he is watching a child die and can do nothing to save him, he then looks out the window for comfort and sees the wheel barrow!
- XXHardcoreDEWXX

Jackson Anthony · 26 September 2005

It seem like some significant event… Childbirth, death, both maybe… had perhaps forced the poet to transfer significance to a visual scene he encountered on the occasion. For this reason The Red Wheelbarrow haunts me.

Reis Robert · 3 October 2005

In teaching this poem, I wanted my 7th graders to consider two perspectives. First, there are the obvious “things” in the poem such as the barrow, the water, and the chickens. The kids may reply that this is what the poem is about. But I prompted them to look further and examine what relationship each of these “things” have for one another. Finally, a student spoke up and remarked that the first line seems to have significance to set the stage for the rest of the poem. I asked him what he meant, he replied that this is a poem about how things depend on other things, along with people, and so on, and so on. This was such a great moment, since I had them write about a connection they can make to the deeper, interpretative meaning of the poem. We jotted a few words down - depends, rely, need, trust, hope. Then, to help the students who otherwise were stuck with the literal understanding of the poem, I had them ask themselves, “Who is my wheelbarrow? Who is my chicken? What is the rainwater in my life?”

The writing really took off at this point. We had students equating the wheelbarrow with parents, teachers, and the government. They equated chickens with themselves, or even pets and younger siblings. They equated rain water with money, food, resources, even love.

It was a rather deep discussion and we were all amazed how such a simple vignette of sorts could yield so many deep thoughts. It’s the perfect poem to get students to distinguish the literal and the interpretative in poetry.

Alex insert nickname here Poterack · 12 October 2005

I think this poem is like Peter Sellers in the movie Being There.

Sherri Golkow · 15 December 2005

whoever was making the reference to hebrew, well reading it over they didnt stay constant with one language…. B’ (buh) (the letter bet) in hebrew means in, not from. ben dosnt mean person, it means son/son of. mah geshem dosnt translate to rainwater, yes geshem is rain, good there, but mah means what, so where did that fit in? and the rest, i wont even address, none of that made sence

Hannah Wilson · 11 April 2006

I might be completely off on this, but I get something completely different from this poem than people I have talked to. I take into consideration that the wheelbarrow is the one that does all the work, while the chickens are the ones that are tended to and get the attention. I see it was a tribute to the working man, the one who toils on and goes through the hard stuff (the rain) while others reap the benefits.

Terrence Hopper · 16 May 2006

Anyone who would like to find out what the red wheel barrow is actually about you can find the answer at this website: [broken link] http://home.cogeco.ca/~hopper666/ It’s in the section called The Red Wheelbarrow-Solved by Terrence Hopper. Sianara.

Bob Hutner · 14 June 2006

so little depends
upon

a yellow wagon

filled with
water

beside the red
roosters

by Nat

Am i famous yet?

Pierce Hibbs · 11 September 2006

To whom it may concern,

This is probably the best poem I have ever read.

Eva Valenti · 17 September 2006

Hmm. Maybe we should let the poem alone to speak for itself, instead of pumping it up and tainting it with our own experiences/takes on it.

~eva

“He smells nice… Like drugs and cat and outdoors and boy.”

Karen Gamble · 27 September 2006

Black betty bam la bam

Is way cooler than this poem because I hate chickens and I can’t stand red wheel barrows

Thank you black betty

P.S. bam la bam

Karen Gamble · 27 September 2006

ThiS

poem

Relates

Death

Because

The

Chicken

Symbolizing

The

Holy

God

Zeus

And

When

The

Rain

Done

Lightning

Bolts

Will

Zapp

The

Wheelbarrow

And

Destroy

The

Earth

Michael Korch · 22 October 2006

Although I respect the opinions of most who took the time to comment (although I do think some are truly missing out on life and should quite possibly turn off their computer for a spell), I feel I need to bring to mind an idea that seems to have been missed.

I believe it to be important to think of the aesthetic beliefs of William Carlos Williams to truly understand what he attempts to say.

WCW once told a story about a man named Hartpence, who in the course of his work at an art gallery, came to take on a managerial role while the proprietor was away. During this time period, a woman interested in purchasing a painting approached him, and asked “Mr. Hartpence, what is all that down in this left hand corner”, to which he replied “That, Madame, is paint”.

WCW was a career physician, who in the brief periods of time between patients would pull out a typewriter, and write poetry, often quick and hurriedly. Unlike other poets of the day such as Elliot, WCW didn’t use classical references or elevated speech, but rather wrote very simply, in American english, creating a wonderful image.

The answer to all questioning over the meaning and direction of the red wheelbarrow cannot be anymore simpler in the eyes of WCW.

What is the red wheelbarrow?
Why, it is a poem.

Maureen Hurley · 22 October 2006

For those Wondering Minstrel postees who seem to be recent graduates of the “Ignorance is Bliss” school of thought, for the emTV Generation who want everything unraveled and Holly Hobbied, whose anesthesized minds have atrophied to the size of a comma and therefore they empirically state that the poem should cease to exist because they “don’t get it”, regardless of the fact that it brings delight to. and inspires others, a word of advice: should you wish to deepen your arts consumer experience, remember this: not only is art the self expression of the artist, art is what you, the observer, the consumer, bring with you to the table. It’s up to you to make it into a veritable banquet.

The imagery of any poem is embedded within the language of the culture, the poet is not disassociated from the imagery in the poem, it’s not words pulled out of a hat to irritate and confound you, Dear Reader. The poet chooses images from his daily life. In WCW’s case, ordinary things he sees on his daily rounds. Imagine for a second, what was WC Williams’ job? He was a doctor. Who/what was he surrounded by? When was it written? Where? What are the primal colors of hospitals, of life and death? White, for the hospital walls, for the nurses’ uniforms, perhaps the chickens? They wore abbreviated wimples that stuck out like chicken wings, a cultural hangover from when nurses were nuns. What if he’s waiting between surgeries to see if a child he operated on will recover from anesthesia? Think gurneys, think ambulances, think blood, think think, think upon all the images that you can conjure up of hospitals.

Now go back and feast upon the poem again with a fresh eye. BTW, a 5th grader “got it” and told me about the nurses… And yes, it is a fragment from a long poem, where other clues—how to read the poem—are rampant. Find the hidden gems by the… back walls of the hospital where nothing will grow…Think like Sherlock. Deduce. I won’t burden you with Frost’s idea of what poetry should be, nor will I invoke Occam’s Razor, but I will leave you with something Plato said: “Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.” Remember what the Good Doctor Poet (WCW) said: “It is difficult getting the news from poetry but men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there…” —Mo

P.S. Weirdly, at a boring cocktail party we met an airline pilot from Rutherford/Patterson, NJ, who, when we said we were poets, told us he once knew a poet. When he was five, perhaps testing his fledgling wings, the pilot jumped out of an apple tree and broke his leg. “And who was the doctor?” we asked, leaning in… Yep. Himself.

Billiardsbrain · 27 January 2007

I believe every space and comma is a living part of the poem and has its function, just as every muscle and pore of the body has its function. And the way the lines are broken is a functioning part essential to the poem’s life. Quote from- Denise Levertov.

swillowpond · 12 March 2007

much ado about nothing…or everything

Mark D. Cook · 1 August 2007

It is a dream like vision that even Mr. Williams would ponder from time to time. He too would surround the setting with different stories of what it all means. Some times the wheelbarrow was new. Another time rusty and worn. The glaze from the wetness hiding the fact that it has lost it’s luster.

Neil Procter · 15 October 2007

What William Carlos Williams is discussing in The Red Wheelbarrow is what we refer to these days as the butterfly effect. He has described a simple, albeit attractive scene, that in my mind is always viewed from a house window. I see the poet standing indoors, looking out into the rain and seeing the wheelbarrow and the chickens pecking and scratching around it. And what he thinks is, “If that wheelbarrow was in a different spot or at a different angle - if the chickens were not in this part of the garden - what else would then be different? Would it mean that the future from this point on would unravel in a different way? Everything is part of everything, and therefore necessary to hold everything together. That is why so much depends on this red wheelbarow.

zhishuoou · 1 March 2008

This poem is a tells of william carlos’s life. You must first understand his background to understand the poem. U are stupid if u think it has no meaning.

Palestine Vet · 3 March 2008

Yes the poem was written by a doctor, Doctor Williams, who had struggled all night to save a little patient. In the Morning, he was able to see ordinary things with special significance, as those of us who have lost children,do. Sincerly, marysoucek

Ashley Smith · 8 March 2008

I always thought of this poem as a painting of perspective. On a rainy day, the palette is muted, more subdued, and grey. But the gray of a rainy day allows colours to pop out. A red wheelbarrow is so much more red against the white of the chickens, as is the white of the chickens against a red barrow, hence one facet of the causal relationship that define one object from another. For a visual perspective, look at Monet’s painting, “Poppy Field near Argenteuil.” What are the poppies but luminous splotches of scarlet on the canvas? But against the contrast and within the context of the green fields and blue skies, they become transformed into poppies. I find the subtlety of this poem striking…people question the greatness of the poem because they or their 8 yr old child could write a sentence like it. But they haven’t, have they? Poetry can take the unseen or in this case, the seen yet not noticed, focus it, and make us conscious. Life is too short to have our brains numbed to everything and take everything we see for granted.

–Ashley

Deirdre Robinson · 19 May 2008

I have just heard this ‘poem’ for the first time today. I am stunned that so many people have read so much into, what can only be called, an evocative line of prose. It just goes to show one can over-analyse anything. I’m sure the poet must have been vastly amused by all the fuss over his momentary observation. Gee, I must publish my shopping list. What would people make of that??