John Biscello

I.

Remember that nouns, verbs and adjectives

are made-up things. Crows, on the other hand,

are real to life, and winged.

II.

Place a walnut at the edge of a curb.

Wait for a crow to swoop down

and take the bait.

Then, watch how it connives

to get inside the tough-to-crack walnut.

Capture this episode of savvy and desire

by snapping a series of photographs,

and when the crow flies away,

with or without the walnut,

reflect upon the nature of theft,

and which one, you or the crow,

is the guiltier of the innocents.

III.

Tape a pair of children’s scissors

to your nose (trying not to sneeze)

and run around outside while

cawing with deep religious conviction

until your throat is air-chapped and hoarse.

Then, stop singing, and look up

toward the clouds with a longing

that courses from the roots of your silence

to the edge of your scissors,

and feel yourself a bated crow,

winging its way home.

IV.

Whoever

coined the term “bird-brained”

obviously

mistook a mirror

for a crow

upon which he projected

humanly erred measurements.

V.

When you see a crow

bopping like a pogo legend of prehistoric bop

along the runway of coarse pavement,

do the same,

and enjoy an immediate upgrade

in your relationship to ground

and self.

VI.

Stare at a crow,

flying or perched,

and wonder why

the crow isn’t moved

to write about you.

VII

1..

2..

3…

4..

5..

6..

7..

8..

Nine—

There’s been a murder,

with the usual suspects

framing a most fearful symmetry.

VIII

Envision the crow

on a Roman or Florentine vase,

a Renaissance icon and model

emblazoned in the annals of artistic cryogeny,

then reflect upon how you were not there

when ______ fell,

or _____ was lost forever.

If possible, make direct eye contact with a crow,

and walk away feeling,

A) ashamed of the fact that you exist, or

B) strangely absolved of something or another.

IX

Train a mercenary cult of bees

to chase away crows

that have assumed the semblance of coven.

As the crows soar into retreat,

amidst a cacophony of cawing and buzzing,

think of witches, and how the world,

by grievous turns, cruelly mistreated them,

then do your best to call back the scattered crows

so as to seek a forgiveness

which cannot be given.

X

To eat crow

is a phrase synonymous

with raising the dead

to have poor table manners.

XI

Crows and chimps

are considered equals

in terms of relative intelligence,

yet only one of them

can fly into the air

to shit on the head

of someone upon whom

they have been patiently waiting

to exact calculated vengeance.

XII

Between this world,

and the next,

the status of liaison

may be claimed by a bird

that you denounced as a liar, thief and pest.

Be mindful now

so as not to be led astray

later.

XIII

In a wheat-field

screaming yellow,

the memory of bones,

and the reaped lore of crows,

as bred into gospel

by a force of nature

reckoned Van Gogh.