by Olga Alexander
Prayer for Dead Crow
I fold a crow’s black wing like origami paper,
the finger and thumb holes in tiny scissors
too small for my digits, but I have to do this.
I have to make it work.
The beak is calcified and lies on the bedroom
dresser in a matchbox. Those are hard to find
these days.
There’s a fairy ring outside the window,
gray and white fungi with invisible spores.
Crows march round and round, mimicking
the call that mine made a short month ago.
I’m privy to the tithes of crows, how they walk
single-file into the back door of the kitchen, paying
regards to their dead cousin. I am orchestrating
black morning with crow saliva and bones and biscuit
crumbs which they digest easily like earthworms
passing dirt.
They wait for the adornment, a beautiful fan
of indigo night, the repellant nature of wings
and breasts. They tell me in avian whispers
to take my time. There is no reason to accelerate
such penetrating grief.
John Dorroh has been writing ever since he was evacuated from his mother’s uterus a long time ago. The subject varies for his work from snippets of daily conversation, observations about unbelievable human behavior, and reflections from other poets’ works to the dirty dealings of melatonin-enhanced dream sequences and current events. He single-handedly began a “nekkid redneck” genre, focused on such crusty characters (Aunts Ouida and Edna) who walk nekkid on the Riverwalk with Jesus and their pepper spray. He has one book of micro-fiction to his credit, 99 Words, and a sequel, Kiss My Architecture, which still lives in his computer. He won the sixth-grade spelling bee but was beat at the county-wide finals by Connie Dick. His poetry has appeared in about 80 journals, including North Dakota Quarterly, Selcouth Station, Blue Moon Literary and Art Review, Feral, and El Portal. He is a Southerner living in the Midwest.
Olga Alexander is an installation artist and painter who resides and works In Manhattan. In addition to her paintings, she currently references her own installation artworks to create miniature sculptural jewelry called Nodes Collection. Her paintings and jewelry can be viewed at https://nodescollectionnyc.com