I am genuinely curious how you (and the authors of eleven poetry anthologies) can find so much meaning in such a short poem. I see that it has some visual imagery and definitely evokes the imagination (about farming for sustenance, I think) but I'm not sure if there's something else I'm missing.

Honestly, I think the reason it gets included so often is that it is short and can usually fill out a page that one of Williams' longer and more substantive poems (e.g., Spring and All) ends on.

Also, it is one of the better examples of a type of visual/minimalist/free verse mid-20th century american poetry that is super approachable and understandable (read some of the Wallace Stevens stuff for the counter examples).

Plus, it is great for having "Wait, is this really a poem? What is a poem??" discussions in English 101 classes.

And, to be fair, if some random person wrote it, it would get almost no attention at all, but Williams really was a quite good poet. And while this little poem doesn't have much to it, what it has is nicely wrought.

Just my $0.02...

Eol are important here

---

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

---

>> I feel like I've learned a new black magic to describe complex and ambiguous thoughts with clarity and simplicity.

Care to elaborate ? I sense BS

  it must be
  of
  some difficulty 
  in 
  formatting the lines,
  especially 
  the blank lines, 
  but
  the original poem 
  actually is:

  =====================

  The Red Wheelbarrow 
  ==

  so much depends
  upon

  a red wheel
  barrow

  glazed with rain
  water

  beside the white
  chickens.

here is a wiki page trying to interpret this poem...but I guess different people would get the picture differently...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Wheelbarrow

Well, personally, I guess a poem is a compound that tries to convey meanings through multiple modalities, especially the sound and the semantics in language, and sometimes the spaces and the mental images too...perhaps we could think of it as a Broadway musical, in which many different elements are combined in a harmonious presentation: the light, the stage, the costume, the sound, the music, the lyrics, and the acting -- and the timing for organizing all those elements is quite important too!

I remember hearing the sick child story from a professor -- actually, I think the professor had elaborated the story into the death of Williams' daughter, if I remember correctly -- and immediately hating the poet and the poem.

After thirty five years and an explanation from the poet's mouth, I rather like the poem and the poet, and hate that professor. Thankfully, I can't remember his name, though I can still see his smug mustache under his horn-rimmed glasses.

I'm amused at the sick child story. At first reading what came to my mind was how the chickens might for a brief time see a red barrow with food as their whole world.

That's not the poem. The critical part of the poem is the line-breaks.