13 Ways of Looking at a Circus April 2014 | Page 14

I
Among twenty snowy
mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

O impatient circus crowd
Why do you imagine special tricks?
Do you not see the magic
That wonders around
Outside the circus tent?
Paiton

O clown in the circus
Why do you imagine being funny?
Do you see the children frightened
Because of you?
Alex
Clowns and fools, why
Do you seek to have others
Laugh on your behalf?
Instead seek the proper
Things in life.
Jonathan

O tight rope walker
How can you imagine walking on the rope
Is like walking on the floor?
Do you not see how dangerous it is?
Kevin

I know much of clown’s life
And the rhythms of a knife
But I know well
The noble clowns are swell
Allychan

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.

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?

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.

O audience of the circus
Why do you expect treats and prizes?
Can’t you see the thrill
Of the circus in front of you?
Joanna

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.