A great raven squats
on a green dumpster
behind the meat market.
Its black is blacker
than anything near to the earth,
a thick hang-nail beak blackest,
more than the pitch-black in its eyes.
"Click-clock, click-clock," I cluck at the bird
who ruffles his feathers, staring right through me,
then one cluck gets in, and he ***** his head
to watch my tongue, a pink hatchling squirming
away from a stabbing. He waits for scraps,
gristle to choke down; a deviant bird
who pokes out your eye if you simply stare
a little too long: "The plane is alive;
it is born. Each form is a world."
A supreme semaphore, a whistle,
a croak, a hop and a squawk.
Aug 19, 2025
Aug 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM UTC
A great raven squats
on a green dumpster
behind the meat market.
Its black is blacker
than anything near to the earth,
a thick hang-nail beak blackest,
more than the pitch-black in its eyes.
"Click-clock, click-clock," I cluck at the bird
who ruffles his feathers, staring right through me,
then one cluck gets in, and he ***** his head
to watch my tongue, a pink hatchling squirming
away from a stabbing. He waits for scraps,
gristle to choke down; a deviant bird
who pokes out your eye if you simply stare
a little too long: "The plane is alive;
it is born. Each form is a world."
A supreme semaphore, a whistle,
a croak, a hop and a squawk.
This piece emerged from an ekphrastic exercise prompted by a real-life viewing of Malevich's famous Suprematist painting, "Black Square" (1915).
The quotation is from K.S. Malevich, “From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism,” Moscow, 1916. trans. by X. Glowaki-Prus and A. McMillin in T. Andersen (ed.), K.S. Malevich. Essays on Art, 1915-1933. Borgen. 1968.
I can't figure out how to italicize in here, otherwise the quotation would be italicized.....
