“Once Again, Crows” by Mercedes Lawry

Black and white photograph of an abandoned house, wood cracked, in front of shadowy pines stretching to the cloudy sky. To the left is a bare tree, in a grassy field.
DeKalb Co 9 by Michael Anderson

Does a crow gallop?
It sounds so on my roof.
Plus a convulsion of bangs
on the chimney as if
roofers were hard at it.
And a bit of skittering,
not delicate bird feet, toothpick
clicks. But heft,
a bird with intention, a bird
motivated by the ponds of moss on the shingles.
A bird deliberate and as we know,
arrogant. I hear them up there, in between
ragged caws. It’s theirs as much as mine,
this house, their great black wings
sweeping past windows as the day unfolds,
still startling me at times,
as if they’ve come to collect.

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Mercedes Lawry gazes into the camera from behind black plastic frame glasses. She has short grey hair and wears a blue patterned shirt under a white cardigan.

Mercedes Lawry is the author of three chapbooks. The latest, In the Early Garden with Reason, was selected by Molly Peacock for the WaterSedge Chapbook Contest. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry, Nimrod, and Alaska Quarterly Review and she has been nominated several times for a Pushcart Prize. She has frequently published short fiction and was a semi-finalist in The Best Small Fictions 2016. She authored a poetry book, Vestiges. Her collection Small Measures will be published in 2024.

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Michael Anderson smiles in a red shirt under a brown coat. His short blond hair is combed smooth and he stands before an orange curtain.

Michael Anderson takes pictures while traveling in national parks, rural counties, and cities. He carries his camera while running errands on his bicycle in Chicago.


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