a poet’s notebook

crows

blackbird

in the park
four crows eating
at the picnic table

UPDATE:  This has become a collaborative poem dance!  I am pulling these up from the comments; anyone who would like to participate, please do, and I’ll bring yours up, too.

crow50

outside the window
of my third-floor office
crows shriek and gurgle

       Patia at montana mUsIngs

Crows screech, "We’re all that!"
The Magpies beg to differ,
"Are you shiny blue?"

      Wulfgar at A Chicken Is Not Pillage

four eggs, separated –
even before breakfast
eating crow

      Deborah at AuthorsDen

field ridges frozen –
a crow scrapes sound
from a crack in the sky

      Sara

hard wind
the shadow of a crow
still beside mine

      Norman at Xaiku

on the snowbank by the road
a calligraphy of crows
poem to the coming night

      Cindy

flat grey sky
calligraphy
of crows

      SB

clever and dark winged
trickster with much
within to crow about

      Morgan at Norsehorse’s Home Turf

A murder of crows.
Guilty as charged.
A crime of passion…
that they could not foresee.
But now it is done,
and the crows know.
Their time will come.

      Big Sky Dave at Big Sky Dave

Two crows eating at the picnic table
One named Cain and one named Able
This table’s mine said Cain
No it’s not said Able
I can kill you said Cain
But you won’t said Able
Oh yes I will said Cain,
Remember the Bible fable
You mean when Cain killed Abel?
Haha but my name is Able
said Able.

      Natalie at BLAUGUSTINE

In the last moment,
as the final breath was drawing nearer
I saw an angel flying with a crow
Looking for those who are near
To beckon them with the release of death
to take their souls back home.

      Jen at [para]Bellum.[net]

   

on the hillside
over the coulee
an ancient snag of a tree.

wizened branches dotted
with a flock of starlings —
tiny, black.

on the highest branches
two giant elders
not crows — ravens.

       Patia at montana mUsIngs

mist haze-
a crow cleans its beak
on a rooftop aerial

a hooded crow
pecks just outside
the penalty area

rooftop verandah –
a crow’s drawn out cry
above the pizzaria

powdered snow –
a crow’s eyes above
the no parking sign

floating snowflakes –
the triple caw of a crow
within the tree

      Alan Summers at FRONT ROOM

The crow extends it wings too fair
But misses the currents that maintains its air
Knowing that lifes a fragile thing
Meets with others to deaden the pain.

      Sarpy Sam at Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

she waits
for her lover
a crow alights
on her shoulder
to pick at the carcass
of what was once her
bleeding heart
and still
she waits

      Pandora at Terrestrial Ball

winter poplar
buds crawk open
into crows

*****

a knotted line,
knuckled black leather legs
— silhouetted twigs
regular Mr. Crow and his
crow knees gathered,
edging the sky

       Pearl at Page Half-Full

playful dogs –
the strident caw
of a nesting crow

       Laryalee at Soft Strokes

Black crow rest against
the maple’s red buds,
resting against the white sky.

The plane’s white exhaust
twists into clouds of many.

A foot is shifted,
falling snow turns
into a white waterfall.

Widening, the blue sky
adds more sun for the day’s light.

All this in five minutes.

       Cathy at The Quiet One

         *Reconnaissance*

The ravens come to feast upon the deer.
Their talons are too dull to tear like claws.
They smartly team with wolves, as hunting peers
And point the way to road kill with their caws.

These creatures love to play, nurse others’ chicks,
Do barrel-rolls and bathe collectively,
Use rocks for self-defense and play with sticks
And flying upside down proclaim they’re free.

But still, to man, an animal can’t feel —
We daren’t believe they love or hurt or think.
We cage them all in labs and farms concealed:
The human ‘masters’ cannot face the stink.

Our bankrupt, separate culture’s madness reigns.
We think. Ergo we end the world, /with brains/.

       Dave at how to save the world

Raven

       SB

a sparrow
chases a crow away —
paternity

       David

Work

The mind bunches its black shoulders
and flaps free of the body.
How serious the mind is!
Tilting its glossed head.
Marching stiff-legged in ditches.

       Erin Noteboom at Vivid
       Work is from Book of Hours

he was not
interested
in crows
family corvidae
he had never been
would not
write a poem
about them ever
and sat
in his lounger
in his garden
and woke up
to find himself
surrounded by
an ever thickening
hungrily closing in
ring of black crows
sharp beaked crows
nasty ravens, carrions,rooks
and smelly tacky jackdaws
he suddenly frantically
changed his mind
and then inspired
grabbing paper
seizing pen wrote
to a satisfied cawing
and wing flapping.

       Patrick McManus

Blacks cats
turn into crows,
who scamper into
the morning sky.

       Cathy at The Quiet One

CROWS.

Awakened to the sound of crows
Caparisoned in feathers,
Iridescent, black and sleek,
Rapping at their reflections in my window,
With their insolent beaks.
Each crow it seems a strutting villain,
Straight from Shakespeare,in their
black stockinged leg,
A Richard King, on little princes feasting,
Mere babes too young,
  to fall from the nest, or beg
For Mercy!  For Merccyyy!!

Yeah each crow becomes Macbeth
when he clears his throat to speak,
Or nonchalantly cleans on bloodied wing
the daggered beak.
Or holds in the arrogant, tilted head held dreaming,
The dark sardonic eye, that dreaming seems to say,
  that schemeing seems to say,
"Oh How I Wish the Human Race
  Had but single face,
So that I might spit in it,
Once and for all,
  To show my complete,
    and utter disgust,
       with the whole,
                  damn,
                     show.."
and screaming they fly flapping,away.
Crows! How they Crow!

-Guy FreeMarijuana. [Copyright2003]

I Dream

I dream I am an eagle
A symbol of
Power, strength and beauty
Envied by all

I dream I am a parrot
A clown
In vibrant colours
Loved by all

I dream I am an owl
A silent night hunter
With bright yellow eyes
Unseen by all

I dream I am a snake
A symbol of
The devil
Feared by all

Awake now
I am but a Crow
A symbol of
Witchcraft and spells
Condemned by all

Open your mind
Condemn me not
Because my feathers black
My body sleek
My eyes white, piercing
My cry, a sound you do not like

Open your mind
And understand what I am
I am your garbage truck
You leave such a mess
Rubbish in the parks, roads
Almost everywhere

Open your mind
You may yet respect me
For if I were not here
Your diseases spread everywhere
So next time you see me in the Park
Ask, is that my rubbish
I left behind

Open your mind
When you condemn me
You condemn yourself

Trixie Benbrook [Copyright 2002]

 

black shape on white snow

fathomless as a deep hole

until the crow caws

Jacquie at wild ink

 

The crow
hopping with hunger
three fingers wrapped around
another’s
as he leads to the nest.

Arkava Das at sciowithbrio

 

…we do not see
what we do not eat
can I have a bite then
of your tatoo

         my own ravens love for me

Dale
   

 

Cool flying crow from How To Save The World, who found it at Boomer Cafe.

More about crows.

, , ,

44 responses to “crows”

  1. Patia Avatar

    outside the window
    of my third-floor office
    crows shriek and gurgle

  2. Big Sky Dave Avatar

    THAT is one cool crow.

  3. Wulfgar Avatar

    Crows screech, “We’re all that!
    The Magpies beg to differ,
    “Are you shiny blue?”

  4. Deborah Avatar

    four eggs, separated –
    even before breakfast
    eating crow

  5. sara Avatar
    sara

    A poem dance – how nice!
    field ridges frozen –
    a crow scrapes sound
    from a crack in the sky
    Sara

  6. Patia Avatar

    Oh, how fun!

  7. Norman Darlington Avatar

    hard wind
    the shadow of a crow
    still beside mine
    – Norman

  8. Morgan W. Brown Avatar

    clever and dark winged fathom,
    flying lofty amid brilliant
    gray-blue skies with the green
    earth below as your hungry trail,
    who seems to think itself
    as the one and only trickster
    with something to crow about

  9. cindy Avatar
    cindy

    on the snowbank by the road
    a calligraphy of crows
    poem to the coming night

  10. Morgan W. Brown Avatar

    okay SB, here a shorter version
    clever and dark winged
    trickster with much
    within to crow about

  11. Big Sky Dave Avatar

    A murder of crows.
    Guilty as charged.
    A crime of passion…
    that they could not foresee.
    But now it is done,
    and the crows know.
    Their time will come.
    Hey – cut me some slack — remember, this whole “poetry” thing is new to me!

  12. Morgan W. Brown Avatar

    Yeah me too Big Sky Dave and, I’ve been doing for a while. Go figure! 🙂

  13. Natalie Avatar

    Four crows eating at the picnic table
    One named Cain and one named Able
    This table’s mine said Cain
    No it’s not said Able
    I can kill you said Cain
    But you won’t said Able
    Oh yes I will said Cain,
    Remember the Bible fable
    You mean when Cain killed Abel?
    Haha but my name is Able
    said Able.

  14. Natalie Avatar

    Oops! Correction:
    The above poem should begin:
    Two crows eating at the picnic table…
    (not four)

  15. Big Sky Dave! Avatar

    Crow Poetry

    A murder of crows. Guilty as charged. A crime of passion… that they could not foresee. But now it is done, and the crows know. Their time will come. Yes, it is my first attempt at this thing called “poetry.”…

  16. Jen Avatar

    In the last moment,
    as the final breath was drawing nearer
    I saw an angel flying with a crow
    Looking for those who are near
    To beckon them with the release of death
    to take their souls back home.

  17. Patia Avatar

    on the hillside
    over the coulee
    an ancient snag of a tree.
    wizened branches dotted
    with a flock of starlings —
    tiny, black.
    on the highest branches
    two giant elders
    not crows — ravens.

  18. Alan Summers Avatar

    A Murder of Crows haiku series
    mist haze-
    a crow cleans its beak
    on a rooftop aerial
    a hooded crow
    pecks just outside
    the penalty area
    rooftop verandah –
    a crow’s drawn out cry
    above the pizzaria
    powdered snow –
    a crow’s eyes above
    the no parking sign
    floating snowflakes –
    the triple caw of a crow
    within the tree

  19. Sarpy Sam Avatar

    The crow extends it wings too fair
    But misses the currents that maintains its air
    Knowing that lifes a fragile thing
    Meets with others to deaden the pain.

  20. Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere Avatar

    Huh?

    Crow Blogging? The crow doth sing as sweetly as the larkWhen neither is attended. William Shakespeare…

  21. Pandora Avatar

    she waits
    for her lover
    a crow alights
    on her shoulder
    to pick at the carcass
    of what was once her
    bleeding heart
    and still
    she waits

  22. Pearl Avatar

    winter poplar
    buds crawk open
    into crows

  23. Pearl Avatar

    a knotted line,
    knuckled black leather legs
    — silhouetted twigs
    regular Mr. Crow and his
    crow knees gathered,
    edging the sky

  24. Laryalee Avatar

    playful dogs –
    the strident caw
    of a nesting crow

  25. Cathy Avatar

    Black crow rest against
    the maple’s red buds,
    resting against the white sky.
    The plane’s white exhaust
    twists into clouds of many.
    A foot is shifted,
    falling snow turns
    into a white waterfall.
    Widening, the blue sky
    adds more sun for the day’s light.
    All this in five minutes.

  26. Big Sky Dave Avatar

    Wow. Just WOW. What a great thing this has become, Sharon! Hmmmm…maybe we should do this on a regular basis!

  27. Patia Avatar

    Ha, we’re winning Dave over! Next thing you know he’ll be down at Barnes and Noble checking out the poetry section …. 🙂

  28. SB Avatar

    Ya’know, if I’d tried to do this, it wouldn’t have worked.
    My favorite post ever.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    a sparrow
    chases a crow away —
    paternity

  30. Erin Avatar

    Wow, SB, great project. Since you ask, my one and only crow poem (odd, of the hundreds of bird poems, only one crow): hour 2, “Work,” from “Book of Hours.”
    Work
    The mind bunches its black shoulders
    and flaps free of the body.
    How serious the mind is!
    Tilting its glossed head.
    Marching stiff-legged in ditches.

  31. Erin Avatar

    I guess I should add, the rest of the Book of Hours is here: http://www.vividpieces.net/2003/06/21-book_of_ho.shtml

  32. Cathy Avatar

    Oh Good!! You got the poem !!!

  33. Watermark Avatar

    crow

  34. Guy FreeMarijuana Avatar
    Guy FreeMarijuana

    CROWS.
    Awakened to the sound of crows
    Caparisoned in feathers,
    Iridescent, black and sleek,
    Rapping at their reflections in my window,
    With their insolent beaks.
    Each crow it seems a strutting villain,
    Straight from Shakespeare,in their
    black stockinged leg,
    A Richard King, on little princes feasting,
    Mere babes too young,
    to fall from the nest, or beg
    For Mercy! For Merccyyy!!
    Yeah each crow becomes Macbeth
    when he clears his throat to speak,
    Or nonchalantly cleans on bloodied wing
    the daggered beak.
    Or holds in the arrogant, tilted head held dreaming,
    The dark sardonic eye, that dreaming seems to say,
    that schemeing seems to say,
    “Oh How I Wish the Human Race
    Had but single face,
    So that I might spit in it,
    Once and for all,
    To show my complete,
    and utter disgust,
    with the whole,
    damn,
    show..”
    and screaming they fly flapping,away.
    Crows! How they Crow!
    -Guy FreeMarijuana.Copyright2003

  35. Modulator Avatar

    Friday Ark #47

    Cats, Dogs, Spiders and ? every Friday. We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, bee…

  36. Modulator Avatar

    Friday Ark #47

    Cats, Dogs, Spiders and ? every Friday. We’ll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, bee…

  37. Trixie the Crow Lady Avatar

    I Dream
    I dream I am an eagle
    A symbol of
    Power, strength and beauty
    Envied by all
    I dream I am a parrot
    A clown
    In vibrant colours
    Loved by all
    I dream I am an owl
    A silent night hunter
    With bright yellow eyes
    Unseen by all
    I dream I am a snake
    A symbol of
    The devil
    Feared by all
    Awake now
    I am but a Crow
    A symbol of
    Witchcraft and spells
    Condemned by all
    Open your mind
    Condemn me not
    Because my feathers black
    My body sleek
    My eyes white, piercing
    My cry, a sound you do not like
    Open your mind
    And understand what I am
    I am your garbage truck
    You leave such a mess
    Rubbish in the parks, roads
    Almost everywhere
    Open your mind
    You may yet respect me
    For if I were not here
    Your diseases spread everywhere
    So next time you see me in the Park
    Ask, is that my rubbish
    I left behind
    Open your mind
    When you condemn me
    You condemn yourself
    Trixie Benbrook Copyright 2002

  38.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    EDITED by SB — The commenter did not leave an email address; if it is the artist, I would like permission to post a copy of the image here.
    Original miniature painting of crow for sale
    or if that doesn’t work for some reason you can past this into your browser’s address window:
    http://cgi.ebay.ca/Baby-Crow-atc-aceo-zne-collage-paint-pencil-ink-kv_W0QQitemZ7345420614QQcategoryZ20158QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

  39. Jacquie Avatar

    I love the Crow Dance! This is the section of your blog that I came across when I googled “crows.” It was very nice of you to check out my site and post a link to my books (in your section where people introduce themselves). I’ve included the URL to a recent blog post about the strange appearance of 100s of crows at my daughter’s school. Here’s a crow haiku of mine (may the dance continue!):
    black shape on white snow
    fathomless as a deep hole
    until the crow caws

  40. Arkava Das Avatar

    The crow
    hopping with hunger
    three fingers wrapped around
    another’s
    as he leads to the nest.

  41. Dale Avatar
    Dale

    …we do not see
    what we do not eat
    can I have a bite then
    of your tatoo
    my own ravens love for me

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