Now About that Crow

Crowing Daze
(written for Sy Safransky, editor and publisher of The Sun magazine)

the greatest shadow bird ever
a crow of vast expanse
an impossible dream bird
that's who's coming up the stairs

its feet are claws are prongs are reptiles
its eyes are molars in god's mouth
its center of balance is you
up it hops, up it hops
did you have stairs coming from the darkness
when you were young?
because it's your bird now:
gonna feed it?

it went outside
and mocks traffic
so fast, so slow

gonna swerve so you don't hit it?
think it knows something?
it does and it doesn't

listen:
you have figured out every trick
you have guessed all of the outcomes
you have cursed at formality
you have puked at causality
you are in the perfect place
and you know that when you name it
it is entirely gone

so don't name it

the greatest shadow bird ever
is your buddy now
its wings will fly you to dharamsala
where elephant boys sell trinkets
to the tourists

you will never be free of not being free
you will never be one step behind or ahead
you will always be flying with a great dark bird

when next you meditate don't meditate
not everyone controls prana
not everyone is a bird

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