William Carlos Williams – a medical doctor and highly regarded American 20th century poet is probably most famous for 2 poems – one about the red wheelbarrow and one about plums; simple objects that in the hands of a poet can carry so much meaning. In case you haven’t read his famous poems in a while here they are:
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
In your life, what commonplace objects hold this kind of meaning and possibly even a secret story? For me, there is a single earring from a friend. I doubt I will find its partner ever again, but I just can’t bring myself to discard the earring, even though it is simple piece of costume jewelry. Too many things happened with this friend and with that pair of earrings – from nightclub dancing to an impromptu, wine and haute cuisine filled lunch in Northern Connecticut, hosted by David Bouley. We motored up in a bus he chartered for friends and staff (I was a friend of a friend), and the famous chef rode alongside on his gleaming motorcycle. An earring like this has just seen too much of the world to be summarily tossed out.
In the New York Times this week, it is reported that a professor of literature has tracked down the actual owner of The Red Wheelbarrow – an amazing piece of historical sleuthing. Much has been said about WCW’s style in this short poem – analysis of his subject matter, structure, word choice. But, it turns out the owner of the objects – the wheelbarrow and the chicken – had true meaning for the poet. Here is the article from the Times: William Carlos Willams’ Source for The Red Wheelbarrow. This is a lovely story complete with a description of the effort that people then made to buy a headstone for the previously unknown wheelbarrow owner, an African-American patient of Williams’ from Rutherford, NJ who was buried marker-less in 1930. It is quite a nice little detective story in and of itself!
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