Kuriosities

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.

From Collected Poems by Wallace Stevens

Also, I was dreadfully sick yesterday with some sort of stomach bug, so spent the day on the couch dozing fitfully between nausea and gut wracking cramps. In the awake moments, I read. I grabbed up an old poetry anthology from university days and it fell open to this poem by Raymond Souster, which I also thought fitting!

The Top Hat
by Raymond Souster  

 Whether it’s just a gag or the old geezer’s
A bit queer in the head, it’s still refreshing
To see someone walking up Bay Street
With toes out of his shoes, patched trousers, frayed suit-coat
And on his head the biggest shiniest top hat
Since Abe Lincoln
                               and walking as if the whole
Damn street belonged to him
                                    which at this moment for my money
It does.

The party was a hectic, energetic, crowded success…and it seemed that everybody had a great time. The greatest thing, and it wasn’t until after today that I realised this, was that everybody who was there had followed a dream that had brought them to this odd little island in the sea. Everybody had packed up everything they had ever known and moved to this place on a gut instinct and crossed fingers, and a belief that everything would work out. A party of adventurers, surrounded by the sea! It was inspiring.

And so many truly kind and beautiful people there as well, and after a winter of isolation, it was such a nice reminder that there are kindred spirits out there beyond this little farm. I really do forget sometimes.

Spring has gotten off to a wonderful start and I am so hopeful for what else may be to come… another realisation I came to today while feeling the sun shining so bright (although truthfully, the wind was wicked bitter and tore right through my gloves and coat)…is would the sun feel so lovely if it never went away? That maybe I need that holing up of winter, the cabin fever, and even the dark days of dreary feelings and hopeless sinking to be able to feel that renewed bliss flow through my veins. To appreciate it all…So maybe what I should be celebrating is not winter’s demise, but that winter visited just long enough for me to feel despair, so that I could once again feel that euphoria. Not earthshakingly profound or anything, but it seemed right in my bones today.

I also made crow #7 into a necklace. I am in love with crow #7. I don’t know why…he just seems a quirky little fellow. I will post a pic of the necklace tomorrow. I also want to go to the seashore and take photos, but not sure if there is enough time to do that…hope so! Will post some of those too, if I make it there.

SPRING. Finally! I am excited, and giddy. So many things to celebrate!

I am celebrating most of all the demise of winter. I am throwing a party to this effect tomorrow, something of a Winter’s Wake – so many people are coming, some I haven’t seen for the entirety of the winter – and it will be so nice to see so many friends, new and old – a houseful and then some!

#7 from a series of crow pendants that I am working on called a “Storytelling of Crows”. He is based upon a little crow that sits outside of our house, begging for scraps every morning. He is a cheeky fellow, and loud. Mysterious, and certainly has at least one secret to keep. He demanded that he wear this hat when he was being carved. It’s a stolen hat, really. He stole it from a particular person, but he won’t say exactly who. I’ve got my suspicions…

“1 for sorrow, 2 for mirth, 3 for a wedding, 4 for a birth, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a secret that can’t be told…”