[FOsen]

Amid an infinite forest of integers,
Only the number 13
Is afflicted with blackbirds.

One knows they're from the Wallace Stevens poem,
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,"
Because these blackbirds are limpid and ineluctable.

Many people thought that 13 was odd
And an ill omen,
Even before the blackbirds showed up.

Like 2 and 67 and 281 and 983, 13 is prime,
Though now it is also a composite
Of the euphonious ululations of the blackbirds.

Since his poem is about numbers, as well as birds,
I wonder why Stevens didn't transform the blackbirds
Into a flock of cardinals,
Or even ordinals.