Come experience the 14th way to look at a Blackbird. Tonight, we will be reading Wallace Stevens poem 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird while under a self induced hypnotic state (optional). This guided writing exercise is guaranteed to give you something to stop thinking about. Bring paper to scribble upon. Joe Chiveney swings the watch. This is one of the four last Living Room sessions.

13 Ways of Looking

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Wallace Stevens

I 
Among twenty snowy mountains, 
The only moving thing 
Was the eye of the blackbird.
II 
I was of three minds, 
Like a tree 
In which there are three blackbirds.
III 
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. 
It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV 
A man and a woman 
Are one. 
A man and a woman and a blackbird 
Are one.
V 
I do not know which to prefer, 
The beauty of inflections 
Or the beauty of innuendoes, 
The blackbird whistling 
Or just after.
VI 
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.
VII 
O thin men of Haddam, 
Why do you imagine golden birds? 
Do you not see how the blackbird 
Walks around the feet 
Of the women about you?
VIII 
I know noble accents 
And lucid, inescapable rhythms; 
But I know, too, 
That the blackbird is involved 
In what I know.
IX 
When the blackbird flew out of sight, 
It marked the edge 
Of one of many circles.
X 
At the sight of blackbirds 
Flying in a green light, 
Even the bawds of euphony 
Would cry out sharply.
XI 
He rode over Connecticut 
In a glass coach. 
Once, a fear pierced him, 
In that he mistook 
The shadow of his equipage 
For blackbirds.
XII 
The river is moving. 
The blackbird must be flying.
XIII 
It was evening all afternoon. 
It was snowing 
And it was going to snow. 
The blackbird sat 
In the cedar-limbs.

Writers of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels gather Tuesdays at 7P to read new work, the work of someone else or to just be in the engaging company of other writers. Your donation of $5 helps SPLAB continue our programming. Please bring 8 copies of the work you plan to read. Copies are no longer provided by SPLAB.

Living Room happens @ SPLAB in the Cultural Corner at 3651 S. Edmunds. (Look for the SPLAB sign on the wall and come inside.) We’re 2 blocks from the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station. (Parking is available on the school grounds.)