May 2021
Author's Note: There is so much harshness, so much judgement, so much callousness around us.
I think it's important to understand our own worth, our own ability to contribute to the world, and not be
swayed by those who see us as somehow never perfect enough. As Aesop said "No act of kindness, however small,
is ever wasted." I really like that. (My apologies to ornitologists everywhere for the photo - it's a raven,
not a crow, but the sentiment is real.)
unfinished business
i am old in a place
where obsolescence is odious
rotund in a region
that rages against roundness
uncomely in a country
where ugliness is unacceptable
but i have unfinished business
that will not wait for
public approbation
or perverse popularity
miles and miles and miles to go
before my final sleep
weep for the crow
Photo credit: j.lewis
murderous gatherings
and numbered portent
layered over with coarse
raspy, harsh, grating
excuses for song
and the boldness
of no color at all
and ultimately
no attraction
except
their stubborn refusal
to limit intelligence
to cranial capacity
or love to preconceived disdain
for indiscriminate scavengers
stand aside for the poet
who bends to gather
a wounded rumple of feathers
that will not survive the day
remembering the proud measured steps
the knowing gleam in the eye
of this black-suited yardmaster
who knew him by sound and sight
stand aside and wonder
why he weeps when you do not
©2021 j.lewis
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL