Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem-Counting Crows April 8, 2021

Filed under: poem,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 8:00 am
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Saturday
seven crows: silent
vigil. We
come, one by
one, say sorrowful farewells.
On Sunday: eight crows.

One crow mourns with us
as a lifetime leaves her house
in boxes.
Memories
lost, unless known to
eleven crows.

An allusion, of course, to the traditional rhyme:
Counting Crows
One for sadness, two for mirth;
Three for marriage, four for birth;
Five for laughing, six for crying:
Seven for sickness, eight for dying;
Nine for silver, ten for gold;
Eleven a secret that will never be told.


For NaPoWriMo day 8, this poem is a 6 line shadorma, with a reverse shadorma in the second stanza. The syllable count is 3/5/3/3/7/5. The shadorma was introduced with the fib form yesterday, but I wanted to play with both.

 

poem- crows October 3, 2016

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:47 am
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The yard is speckled

with black spots

as if a coal train tipped on a fast corner

and sprayed lumps.

Twenty or thirty have spread out and bob

in search of hidden meals

or trouble

as is the nature of crows.

They’re strangely silent this morning,

like blurry eyed truckers

who’ve driven all night

and just want some breakfast

before the day begins.

 

 

crows June 24, 2013

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:12 am
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Flying oilslick

on thrumming wings

collapses on my pine tree

and stares at me

daring me.

My protectors

bark their disapproval

and it languidly lifts off

trailing them behind.

Until they reach the fence,

then, tails

immensely satisfied,

lope back to me,

for their reward.

Black garbed intimidators

with steely eyes

do not impress

the wolf clan.

This is a comfort.