posted 03-19-2001 02:13            

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 innuendos,
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.

posted 03-19-2001 03:04            

As for haiku- I got a little lost as to who said what to whom, but a traditional haiku DOES refer to the seasons. However, not usually by name. I have seen a list of things and which season they refer to in a haiku companion book or something.
In the former of Jimbo's references, the season was indicated by the frog; in the latter by bamboo. I think bamboo indicates spring.
Haiku is actually somewhat formulaic, in its most traditional style. Of course people have been doing other things with 5x7x5 for some time.
I think most traditional haiku also tended to refer to classical chinese poetry, simply because those writing it and reading were thoroughly familiar with those sources. Much the way Poe spoke of a bust of Pallas and assumed people would know who he meant. (he did so in The Raven, and he meant Athena)

And that's everything I know about haiku.

posted 03-19-2001 15:39         

Epic poetry of a surreal bent by a buddy of mine:
http://www.hevanet.com/solipsis/nova1.html

Strange folk, that there GSZ.