fashioned against the sky
barren branches bend and sway
brown, broken leaves below
circle like scurrying squirrels
yet
amidst the flurry
a blackbird
with lacquered feathers
sits
undisturbed
ME: The calm of the poem itself (my favorite of yours), set against the last frantic oh-arrrrgh-ugh-the-liberal-media-mccain-was-framed email that got sent out to us [by my stepdad], which I read right beforehand, is a lot like the blackbird *in* the poem set against the scurrying... thanks for sending it, Ma.
MOM: Yes and of course, Barack Obama is the blackbird. (No racial pun intended.)
ME: I'm told he's half dove anyway.
MOM'S FRIEND 1: Yes, I agree with your son, the undisturbed quality is very much like Obrama. Except that I don't know if you remember: during the Reconstruction era, the black man in America was called "Jim Crow" (in a pejorative sense), and the Jim Crow laws mandated segregation in all public facilities, the beginning of "separate but equal" status for black Americans. So in that sense, the blackbird is not a good associative image for Obama. And unfortunately, that was the first association that came up for me! Thank God this campaigning will all be over in a week - and Obama will be our new president.
ME: According to Walter Everett in The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology (Oxford UP, 1999, quoted here via Wikipedia), Paul McCartney wrote "Blackbird" as a reaction to racial tensions escalating in America in the spring of 1968. The song is, like your poem, built upon calm, stark contrasts. And thus far, no one I know of has considered McCartney's ornithological lyrics to be racist in the least; if anything, they are quite the opposite. The connection with your poem is more recent, and more apropos.
MOM'S FRIEND 1: Meanwhile, I neglected to tell you that it is one of my favorite poems of yours, also . . . and that your son is amazingly articulate and thoughtful. I hope to meet him and his bride-to-be some day. You raised him well, and no wonder you feel as close to him as you do!
[NB: The following emails are written in free verse. No idea why.]
MOM'S FRIEND 2: thought again about
your poem
the other layer
underneath the autumn scene
the blackbird as
ominous symbolism
is that your intention?
MOM: No,no, the blackbird remains calm (undisturbed)
despite the frenzied conditions that surround him
What I like about Obama
besides his intelligence
and integrity (it seems)
is his manner
He remains calm and clear-headed
regardless of the circumstance
and I find that appealing in an individual
especially a presidential candidate
I think he will not be so quick
to push the panic button
ME: We in literary theory would point out that the poet's intention is only circumstantially connected to the text, which, once it leaves the poet's pen, has its own set of meanings that the poet cannot hope to control. At any point later, if the poet does try to exert such control, she becomes property of the text (as an "author function") rather than the other way around. And symbolism can vary based on context. I think Maggie's doing a good example of "reading against the grain" here, and it works well.
MOM: You may remember that my poem merely described a sighting in nature...
a tree, near [my high school], noted as I was returning from my walk. I wanted to be like the blackbird, someone who could remain undisturbed despite the "craziness" that surrounded him. (Uncle Jack called this "my Zen poem".) Nothing ominous about the blackbird as I saw it.
MOM'S FRIEND 2: interesting
that you see
those qualities
in Obama
I see him as
an opportunist
who fosters
any relationship
(however subversive
or corrupt)
that propels him
towards his goal
(and I am a Democrat)
and your blackbird
though calm
may be laying in wait
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