CROW

CROW

for Erik Westerlund, Yosemite Ranger/Naturalist

It ain’t all caw-caw. We got speech, culture. Bestowing crow
with brains beats calling us a murder of…. That’s knowing crow.

The Simple Scolding Call, Modified Scolding, Mimicry:
all cheeky, clear examples of a condescending crow.

For great horned owls, our taste is not troubling. They often find
themselves decapitating and crunchily eating crow.

Don’t confuse the Warning Call with one expressing Distress
or Alarm by an anything-but-easygoing crow.

Hooded ones in Holy Land use breadcrumbs for bait fishing.
It’s a living. Let us now calculate brainstorming crow.

If you didn’t know better, you’d think that South Seas lovely
using the bent stick was—check it out!—a tool-making crow.

A time for Wow-Wow Notes. A time for Carr-Carrs. For Whispers,
Woo-ahs, Contentment and Frustration Notes. Riff-blowing crow.

Two million in a royal roost, like passenger pigeons
before thick woods got chopped. A sky rich with black-flowing crow.

Pre-Mortality or Death Call, Defensive Threat Call: sing
rook, raven, piapiac, sing jackdaw. Yo! Get going crow.