So Much Depends

This is what happens a red wheelbarrow pushes its way into your meditations in an emergency

Inspired by Cameron-Awkward Rich’s “Meditations in an Emergency” and the Aspen Grove Writers Collective—you know who you are.

I wake up, and…

So much depends on the and, doesn’t it?

I wake up, and am leaden with resentment; my morning cuppa curdles in despair.

Or,

I wake up, and curl into my husband’s back, thrilling to the waltz of his buzzing sighs.

So much depends on a conjunction, doesn’t it?

I wake up, but am leaden with resentment, and my morning cuppa curdles in despair.

Or,

I wake up, and curl into my husband’s back, but despise the waltz of his buzzing sighs.

So much depends on the parts of speech, doesn’t it?

The articles and/or adjectives and/or verbs conjoined in a meaning upon which
so much depends.

Like that red wheelbarrow.

So much depends on it.

But what, Mr. Williams? What?

The rainwater? Or the chickens?

The rainwater and the chickens?

Neither the rainwater nor the chickens?

What depends on the red wheelbarrow, Mr. Williams?

So much depends on your response.

Green wheelbarrow, wondering why the red wheelbarrow won’t come out to play, England, June 22. ©Nicole C. Livengood.