the stupid crow

Technology-related issues have made this my most boring day at work ever and my brain feels like a dry sponge. Bleah. At least I got a poem out of it. I'll need to sit on this one for awhile before I know if it's done. Weird that I always revise verse pieces and never edit the prose beyond grammar and spelling. Maybe I just don't take prose writing seriously. That's probably it.


you, girl! you saw a crow today.
he balanced on a lamppost arm
and screamed, "no! look the other way!"
you turned and saw the blue, the day,
clouds harrowed like a planted farm

then clambered in the bus and sat
in back. your eyes, like window glass
smoked on both sides, made dim and flat
what ever you were staring at
brow furrowed as the bus rolled past

I know what gears were grinding then
inside that mess you call a brain
you weighed your hours against your friends
they would not stretch to meet the ends
you'd link into some grand tow chain

as if we're axle-deep in snow
one big machine, stuck in a ditch
with somewhere far away to go.
you think your own two arms can tow
this thing? are you its queen? its bitch?

hell no! and no one says so here
except that constant secret shame
which whispers sweetly in your ear:
"you should, you should have made it clear--
made them all use your rules, your game."

the road's the only game in town.
you've no idea where it will go,
what bastards ran your crew aground.
so roll your smoky windows down
and listen to the stupid crow!