THIS CROW

 

  

THIS CROW HERE 

knows who I am

& what I do here.

Knows where he goes,

knows who owns what,

knows what’s what,

knows he knows.

His broad black voice

lets me know he knows he knows

HAW…..HAW….HAW

 
 

We both belong here.

How well we know it both.

 

Our cats and I,

our small family

& he,

uniquely share

this minor territory.
 

 





 

The small black shining buttons

he wears for eyes

one each side of head,

see me
quite perfectly.

From the top of his tall tree

he yells

I’ll see you later

in hell

HAW   HAW   HAW

No need

for either of us
to hurry.

I can wait, and so can he.

The leaves of the fall

are already falling from the trees.

 

You can go to hell, he thinks,

and see me there.

Sooner or later,

early enough.

A black wire through the branches

of his tree
connects me
to the rest of humanity.

 

Upon this wire,

he sits indifferently….
just another tree branch
beneath his black eyes and his black feet.

On the bottoms of those sharpened feet,

the itch of electrons
passes through the wire,

our human speech,

other tongues, not his,
that come to speak to me.
 

Time alone can tell

who will be
the first & last to leave
 

Me,

or he?
 

haw haw haw




JAMIE REID