13 Isn't Always Bad Luck

Certainly my favorite Stevens poem, and one of my favorites of the modern era, is "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." What initially drew me to this poem, aside from the 14 brilliant pictures it paints (one per stanza + one overall), was the fact that I could not duplicate it. No matter what the subject, I would always end up describing it, which is not at all what Stevens has done with his blackbird. Instead of a meditation on truth and perspective, I'd invariably end up with 13 lame to semi-lame descriptions of _____. I still try now and then. And, though I'll never fool myself into thinking I could put on paper anything close to the genius of Wallace Stevens, I'd like to believe that a more mature perspective and a deeper understanding of the poet and poem, would bridge the gap somewhat between my knock off and his original.
In spite of the title, this poem is not so much about a blackbird as it is about everything in relation to the blackbird. In each stanza, the bird is the focus upon which each reader perceives the given landscape. Since each reader will perceive and subsequently define each scene (stanza) differently, there are not just 13, but an infinite number of unique perceptions. Since each interpretation is true to each reader, there are an infinite number of truths. If we remember "The Snow Man," the implication would be that there is no real truth because every individual perspective is true. Somehow I equate this with the man who has "a mind of winter" and eventually becomes one with winter. Once he is no longer perceiving the winter scene, but belongs to it, it must cease to exist. Does that make any sense? It's quite hard to articulate properly.
On a less brain crunching note, I enjoy the flow of the poem. Not rhythmically, as any consistent rhyme or meter doesn't appear here. The poem moves well as we encounter the blackbird on its journey between the bookends of stanzas I and XIII. Although this is a "cold" poem throughout, only these two stanzas mention snow: "among twenty snowy mountains," (I) and "it was snowing and it was going to snow," (XIII). Also, these are the only scenes in which the blackbird is truly still. In stanzas III, VI, IX, X, XI, and XII it is flying or, in the case of XI, the suggestion of flight. In VII it is walking; and in V it is whistling. Stanzas II, IV, and VIII are like rest stops along the way. While technically there is no movement by the blackbird, these are like glimpses into the mind of the creator, and are different from the remaining stanzas.
I think V is the most telling section of this poem. I think this stanza conveys one of Stevens' philosophies, the distinction between what is heard and the implications of what the sound becomes after it is heard, "the blackbird whistling, or just after." When applied to poetry, I believe Stevens was fascinated with the transformation his words took from being put on the page to being taken in by the reader. Any poem is forever altered once it is encountered by even one reader. Maybe Stevens could never decide which he preferred, the act of creation or the echo of his creation in the minds of the reader.
One last thing! Of course I have to add my pop culture reference. In 1998, Pearl Jam released the album Yield, which contains a song called "Low Light," written by bassist Jeff Ament. When I heard this song, stanza XIII from "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" came immediately to mind, even though the last time I read it was about four years earlier in college. To me this song (musically more than lyrically) captured the mood of stanza XIII. Check it out and see if you agree or not.