What do you think "The Red Wheelbarrow" invites us to consider?

What depends upon a red
wheelbarrow? 

Answer: So
much. 

What is the significance of the glaze of the rain
water or the white chickens?

Answer: So much depends upon
the reader/observer. 

There is no "I" in the poem. There
are no capital letters, rhyme or meter. The objects are ordinary. Aside from the
reference to agriculture or labor (farming), this scene is of objects with no overt
meaning. This scene, sparsely described, is an example of Imagist poetry, the poetic
attempt at painting a picture. Williams was attempting a new kind of poetry, perhaps
even beyond Imagism. With no discernible style, no punctuation and no cultural or
historical references, this is an image, plain and simple; there are just words which
stand for things.  This might sound ridiculously simplistic, but it goes to the heart of
the poem. Words depend on things. We depend on words to communicate things (and
ideas).

Using this plain image, the reader focuses on the
word/images, the odd line breaks and maybe even the choice of prepositions. Why "red?"
Why "a" and not "the" wheelbarrow?  Why "chickens"?  Regardless of the poet, I'm of the
school that the reader's interpretation is the creation of meaning. But even moreso in
cases like Imagistic poetry. 

To answer your question, my
(and this is only one interpretation) impression of the poem is about nature and
industry, represented by the chickens/rain and wheelbarrow respectively. The wheelbarrow
implies human industry but there is no human in the poem. The chickens and rain (plant
growth, drinking water, life, etc.) represent nature; chickens a source of food. So a
basic interpretation is that so much depends upon nature and industry for survival. But
to be honest, I would call this a dumbed down impression. The significance of this poem
is that so much depends upon words which depend upon things; for good or bad. As these
are simplistic things, another interpretation could be that this is a criticism on the
accumulation of unnecessary things.  Instead, Williams offers a focus on more simplistic
objects and how they can convey or prompt the reader/observer to form as much meaning
and introspection with his/her own imagination --- perhaps even more than a descriptive,
stylistic poem might convey.

In this sense, why "chickens,"
why "a red wheelbarrow," why "glazed with rain" is the whole point - focus on objects
themselves. So much depends upon imagination via words via
objects.

In Spring and All, Williams
writes: “To refine, to clarify, to intensify that eternal moment in which we alone live
there is but a single force—the imagination.”