Crows by Hokusai

A Crow’s Request
_ a poem by Yuri Kageyama

We get a bum rap.
An utterly horrendous,
Misrepresentative rep;
They adore the others,
The herons, wagtails and ducks,
Even cooing pigeons
Calling them doves,
Symbols of peace,
But us _ we’re evil
Laden with germs
They’re setting traps
To kill us
To exterminate us
Though we’ve lived in the park
Longer than them
Minding our business
Raising our children
No different from anyone else

You have your nest
Of glass and steel
We have our nest
Up in the trees
Though unlike you,
We’re virtuous
We mate for life:
Why you see us flying
In twosomes
Crooked hearts in the sky
We bathe in mere puddles of water
We eat what we find
In the streets, on the ground;
True, we don’t chirp or twitter
And instead make scary
Cawing noises
We’re just communicating.
No different from anyone else.

We’re depicted scrounging garbage
Hanging out with witches
That’s just a stereotype
Concocted by a hostile media;
When we flock in the hundreds
Swarming in a dark cloud
Perch like a thousand commas
We evoke Hitchcock’s “Birds;”
But we inspired Hokusai, “Heckle and Jeckle,”
And the Japanese soccer team;
There’s a song about us crying:
“Kawaiiii, kawaiiii …”
Van Gogh drew us flapping in a field
Like a deathly holy ghost;
We collect shiny things
Like glass and buttons
Bringing them to children
To make them smile.