Wallace Stevens: 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

[ananda]

1. Blackbird Tanka

Daybreak at the car,
Two blackbirds walk in the yard,
one a drab background
to the larger shiny bird
of bardlore, a fourteenth look.


On Monday I came across WallaceStevens’ “Thirteen Ways to Look at a Blackbird,” and the next morning I’m putting my backpack in the back seat of the car looking towards the front yard and what do I see but two black birds, the smaller one drab and unremarkable, but the larger one just glorious, with a blueblack sheen, well-made. It was definitely a tanka moment because it felt as though there was awareness on both sides of a new level of kismet and understanding in the light of my introduction to the Stevens poem the day before.