Christopher North
After the Thirteen
1)
After the king was mated,
further moves were made
amid the involved labyrinths
of black’s queen side fianchetto.
Chinking blackbirds
on the shadowy terraces of A5
witnessed the futile argument
of these unresolved concerns.
2)
In the tree
that seemed to contain three blackbirds,
there were four blackbirds.
The fourth,
concealed behind the trunk,
was unaware of the role
it had missed in American Literature.
3)
A blackbird flitted
from the fence top
to the cherry bough;
from the cherry bough
to the lawn edge
and thence back
to the cherry bough
and from there
to the fence top.
Many have commented
on the pointlessness
of these movements.
4)
A car was parked in July shade.
On the steering wheel a blackbird
waiting.
5)
In this stanza
a decision has been made
to exclude any reference
to a blackbird.
6)
Because wild carrot
has a single purple flower
centring a whorl
of one hundred white flowers,
I think I understand the jar in Tennessee.
All would return to being mysterious
if upon the jar
there perched a blackbird.
7)
A single view suffices
for blue bird, yellow bird,
and redwing.
Blackbird,
with your thirteen views or more,
can you show that
colour is not your secret?
Page(s) 44-45
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