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Monday, August 21, 2017

blackbird








For the TAW challenge  this week: blackbird.


Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

by Wallace Stevens
1
Among twenty snowy mountains
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird
2
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.
3
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.
4
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
5
I do not know which to prefer
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes.
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
6
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.
7
O thin men of Haddam,
Why to do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
of the women about you?
8
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.
9
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.
10
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.
11
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.
12
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.
13
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.
1923








8 comments:

Deann said...

Beautiful stark and lonely images and stunning prose a superb post.

Lori Saul said...

Your rich poems and thought provoking art are always a joy to see and experience!

Michele said...

wow! the art itself is stunning and when you add this marvelous poem it is just all very breathtaking! thank you. xo

RambleOn aka pam said...

i love poetry and used a well-known poem fr my page this week...but this poems about black birds is new to me...so i sill read it over and take it in and have a better idea about why you went with this imagery...very modern thank you for that!

Sim said...

Strong words and beautiful pop modern graphic evocations!

Meggymay said...

A wonderful poem to read, Its an amazing page.

indybev said...

How coincidental! I just submitted one of my poems titled "13 Ways of Looking at a Rock" to Poets United yesterday, based loosely on Wallace Stevens idea of 13 ways. Your images are starkly effective.

peggy gatto said...

Total unique creation, love!

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