Voice of loon shivers  .  .  .
Blows for me on restless lake,
  .  .  .  Cold winds in twilight.

The crows cawed out with harsh, sorrowful cries as we drove up.
I fumbled to pull my phone out of my pocket,
and asked my mom to pull over.
She gave me an odd look,
but did so all the same.

It was a true ****** of crows,
like none you have ever seen in your life.
Black on the gray sky,
they swooped,
each feather a silhouette against the shades.

They sat on street wires,
balanced on wobbly tree branches,
and pecked at the ground.
Fifty? A hundred? Two hundred? Three hundred?
Too many to count.

I walked around the sidewalk in awe,
as in waves they would lift from the ground,
soar as one,
before lighting back down,
as if nothing had happened.

The busy cars whirred by on all sides of the small, road-boardered area. What a great welcome to your new home.
Would you have taken it as a bad sign?
Something of that majesty?

Dark forest of Tao  .  .  .
Black boughs under evergreen,
  .  .  .  Raven wings in wood.

10 Haiku of Raven

        1
black God

Huge cumulus clouds,
Exploding into the blue,
  .  .  .  Shadowed by raven.


        2
valley morn

Dark hands working fields,
Raven tracing mountain crests,
  .  .  .  Carnal tillers wake.


        3
Raven spell

Dark sound raven makes,
Chortles top fir tree, haunting—
  .  .  .  Druids incantation.


        4
unfaithful

Snow covers valley—
Solitary raven staining world,
  .  .  .  Love has turned black.


        5
outcast

Many years alone,
Suddenly— old thoughts of her,
  .  .  .  Lone raven in sky.


        6
mischief

Lone raven cackles  .  .  .
Clouds splinter across the sky,
  .  .  .  Mist cuts down the woods.


        7
marked

Full moon crowns tall pine,
Raven landing in cross hairs,
  .  .  .  Dark angels halo.


        8
Loki

Raven knows a charm,
A child's costume jewelry,
  .  .  .  Colours a black eye.


        9
tall tale

Zenith of winter—
Lone raven in naked tree,
  .  .  .  Spring only legend.


       10
dark angel

In his feathered dress  .  .  .
Raven shrouds beneath the clouds,
  .  .  .  Even eyes are black.

Hollow sound through trees,
Naked and bare branches sway,
  .  .  .  Old winter creeping.

Someone told me
Spiders are a good omen
This morning
A little brown spider
Nervous

Hurried across my wall
So this will end well
In spite of everything

And I know you like the barefoot sound of thunder
That any minute now will be dancing through the gutters I think of you
Now an old man in a city somewhere
How you’d never come with me
Never trap nature behind a windowpane
The trees are the backs of naked ghosts
Receding into doorways of mountain shadows

Somehow the trail you thought
Would take you to a safe haven
Led you down the street
To some bar and quiet routines
With a glass in your hand and an ear for
Jazz thunder
You know all the greats,
The booms and beats of different clouds
How every shade of grey is a melody

And how in the city
The puddles shine and the sky is paved
So turning the world upside down
Would change nothing.