PICKINGS

Samples of poetry from NHI publications

CROW
I like you crow. you stand there Admiring me and never quibble. Communication is through your deep Dark eyes that hardly ever blink. Assertively you know your place, Allow me mine. Your memory Of far away places does not hinder Me. Your blackness is not that Of foreboding; grey feathers* on your Breast are not or ageing. Perhaps Of pride, disdain or approbation: Medals of distinction! Your message Is simple: Where there is food You are at peace. My own peace Does not relate to food but to a past Which is deep that I cannot recall. My agitation and pain deter me. Deter others; interactions diminish. Loneliness demands of them a tolerance You yourself behold, You, Boyar of old, Probably prefer crows.
BRIAN BLACKWELL

CROW

I like you crow. you stand there
Admiring me and never quibble.
Communication is through your deep
Dark eyes that hardly ever blink.

Assertively you know your place,
Allow me mine. Your memory
Of far away places does not hinder
Me. Your blackness is not that

Of foreboding; grey feathers* on your
Breast are not or ageing. Perhaps
Of pride, disdain or approbation:
Medals of distinction! Your message

Is simple: Where there is food
You are at peace. My own peace
Does not relate to food but to a past
Which is deep that I cannot recall.

My agitation and pain deter me.
Deter others; interactions diminish.
Loneliness demands of them a tolerance
You yourself behold, You, Boyar of old,

Probably prefer crows.

BRIAN BLACKWELL

from
The Smile of Lies
ISBN 0 903610 19 1

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* The grey and black crows of Minsk may well be hybrids between Hooded and Carrion crows.

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This page last updated: 23rd April 2003.