Hello, Poetry Friend
Once a month we do a Poetry Roundup. We’re spending this month with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s collection Naked for Tea, and her poem “The Fourteenth Way of Looking at a Blackbird” is our winged guide for March. (The poem can be read in the Kindle sample.)
If you know me, you know I have a thing for crows, those pesky corvids. I have a whole book with poetry for children about these bad birds, titled Rainbow Crow. And though I’ve tried numerous times to write a poem stemming from Wallace Steven’s classic poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” Trommer did it better than I ever have, and she did it using only three lines.
Depending on where you live, there may not be a lot of birds yet. But I suspect you won’t have much trouble locating one of my favorite black birds. If you’re stumped, check your nearest Dumpster.
Poetry Journal
Read Trommer’s short poem about the fourteenth way of looking at a blackbird.
This poem is only 19 words long. Seriously, way to get to the essence of it all, Trommer!
Read the poem again, aloud (if you didn’t the first time). What emotions is Trommer expressing?
Write your own poem about any kind of black bird. If you like, email me what you write.
Take care, Megan
Well, you know I love ravens, but this happened this week. In Ms. Trommer's fashion, I kept it short!
Cleanup on Aisle 3
He sat on the curb, contemplative.
The lone black vulture eyed
the flattened squirrel pancaked
on Silverleaf Lane and stood still
as if in prayer before lunch.