{"id":452,"date":"2014-04-04T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=452"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:51:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:51:12","slug":"april-4-red-wheel-barrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/04\/04\/april-4-red-wheel-barrow\/","title":{"rendered":"April 4 – Red Wheel Barrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, April 4 \u00a0– Stories everywhere if I slow down a little<\/p>\n

William Carlos\u00a0Williams, a practicing MD who studied at my alma mater U Penn, died in 1963 at 79. \u00a0I don’t know who said that he \u00a0“worked harder at being a writer than he did at being a physician, but excelled at both.” \u00a0No matter; \u00a0it’s a good line.<\/p>\n

Perhaps his most quoted poem, “XXII” opens a place that evokes\u00a0the smell of chickens and \u00a0spring rain.. \u00a0No action here; \u00a0 the rain has already fallen, no one tends the chickens, no one uses the wheelbarrow. \u00a0Action distracts, the poet seems to say. \u00a0“Stand still. \u00a0Look”. \u00a0Wheelbarrow does its work much like American contemporary Charles Sheeler’s still-life photos and massive factory-scapes of The Rouge. \u00a0 Like “Wheelbarrow” these freeze a moment. \u00a0“There are stories here; wait for them. \u00a0 But while you wait, stand still.”<\/p>\n

I had not thought of the Red Wheelbarrow in a while but the mist this morning got me thinking about William Carlos Williams. \u00a0A blessing for early Spring.<\/p>\n

We are rounding the bend toward the end of the term, lots of stories lived since January by our students and our selves, lots of stories waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

Have a good weekend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

XXII<\/strong><\/p>\n

so much depends<\/p>\n

upon<\/p>\n

a red wheel
\nbarrow<\/p>\n

glazed with rain
\nwater<\/p>\n

beside the white
\nchickens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[“The Red Wheelbarrow”] sprang from affection for an old Negro named Marshall. He had been a \ufb01sherman, caught\u00a0porgies<\/a>\u00a0off\u00a0Gloucester<\/a>. He used to tell me how he had to work in the cold in freezing weather, standing ankle deep in cracked ice packing down the \ufb01sh. He said he didn\u2019t feel cold. He never felt cold in his life until just recently. I liked that man, and his son Milton almost as much. In his back yard I saw the red wheelbarrow surrounded by the white chickens. I suppose my affection for the old man somehow got into the writing.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"William<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, April 4 \u00a0– Stories everywhere if I slow down a little William Carlos\u00a0Williams, a practicing MD who studied at my alma mater U Penn, died in 1963 at 79. \u00a0I don’t know who said that he \u00a0“worked harder at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}