Thirteen Ways to Look at _______ Challenge

In response to the Put a Poem in Your Pocket Challenge our Regular Contributor The Teacher shared one of her own poems and an invitation/assignment. The Sisters decided that a perfect way to end National Poetry Month would be to challenge our readers to write a poem of their own. So this week we give you a poetry challenge from The Teacher:

A blackbird made by The Sisters
during Days of the Blackbird

"There's a poem by Wallace Stevens titled Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.  The first time I introduced it to a class, I ended up asking them to chose an object (not a quality, like "love") and, following Stevens's example and their own imaginations, see how many ways they could look at that object (at least 7); using figures of speech, etc." 

Want to give it a try? First read Wallace Stevens' poem, next read The Teacher's poem and finally click comment and write your own!

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

by 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. 

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Willow 

by Lynn Barrett (The Teacher)

I
Willow weeps
With a war-weary world.

II
O Willow, why do you weep?
Ophelia floats peacefully
In the stream.

III
O Willow, why do you weep?
Listen to the laughter
Of children playing
Inside the tent of your branches.

IV
The willow is a maiden
With tempest-tossed tresses
Troubling the tangled turf.

V
The willow is a fountain
Of yellow-green droplets
Filtering the slanting rays
Of the morning sun.

VI
Squirrels chase each other
Through the willow tree.
Her limbs sway and bend.
They do not break.

VII
In the heat of noontime,
A nightingale -
Nodding,
Napping -
Nestles in the cool green niches
Of the willow.

VIII
The sting of the willow-switch whipping
Will soon pass.
Not so
The deeper wound.

IX
In the gray-green of evening,
The willow whispers wistfully
To the winnowing wind.

X
What night nuances
Lure me to the moon-made shadows
Of the willow?

XI
Whitened with winter,
The willow waits willingly
For spring.
Now is a time of rest.

XII
The rivulet runs;
The robin returns;
The bluebell blooms:
The willow wakes.

XIII
Her roots probed deep
To find life-giving water.

Still the willow thirsts.

Now Dear Books for Walls Reader -it is your turn, pick your object and write your poem then post it in the comments below. We understand if you feel shy and do not want to post it --in that case just post in the comments that you did take the Thirteen Ways to Look at _______ Challenge. And Happy National Poetry Month!