Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Aftermath process

***

Tagged

Rescued raven, a feather green-tagged --
no longer all-black.

Against a window, she beats her wings
and pecks at the other one she sees

What is that disdain in your eyes,
parrot? If you dare,
come out from the other side!


She caws up a thunderstorm,
the sun hid behind the clouds.

The other became a dark shadow,
ghost-clear; through the window's
black glass she could see inside --
an apartment long abandoned,

and the other, it had her eyes.


***

Afternote: I know that magpies have passed the mirror test of self awareness, but I'm not sure if ravens and crows can recognize themselves in the mirror. But they are such smart birds, I would tend to think they would eventually figure it out.


**This poem is posted to Open Link Night Week 21 at the dVerse Pub. Join us for an awesome time with excellent reads.

24 comments:

Old Raven said...

I don't have to tell you how I feel about this ... do I? This is wonderful. I should know the answer to that and I do not.

But I can tell you that Ravens lead wolves to fresh carcasses. And Wolves allow Ravens to coax their young pups out (at about toddler age - at a time when the Raven is larger) to play. Ravens will play with wolf-pup's tail. Good to see you Ravenblack.

Victoria said...

I'm a raven person, too, and this poem is just stunning. There is "magic" in your words.

Ravenblack said...

Old Raven: That's interesting, I know about them leading wolves to carcasses, but I didn't know they play with young pups. :) As for the mirror, I even tried googling for the answer and no one knows. I think they assume that they do, but they have not thoroughly tested enough to confirm.

Victoria: Thank you. :)

Brian Miller said...

interesting bits on the ravens....and this a fascinating piece...i wonder at times if we would recognize ourselves....at times...

Unknown said...

Raven, Nice piece. I like this idea about recognition, it is very interesting and I never even thought about birds in this respect. It's funny because I've been watching my niece virtually everyday and I was just saying the other day how she recognizes herself in the mirror. Obviously not quite the same-lol but found the arrival of this piece quite resonant. Thanks.

hedgewitch said...

Solid poem, in itself--I'm reading it more as a personal allegory, but the raven lore is fascinating as well. Esp like the ending...the feeling of all that energy spent on a reflection, on emptiness.

Scarlet said...

I like the ending lines too... thought provoking with what we can see with our eyes ~

Daydreamertoo said...

Fascinating, both your work and the comments too. I learned something new today, thank you :)

mrs mediocrity said...

I love crows. A very intriguing piece!

steveroni said...

Well, I just enjoyed this so much. I know my own image but do not dwell on it--grin!

It's my voice I sometimes cannot recognize or distinguish, when replayed.

Didn't know that some birds recognize themselves--or that others do not.

Your blog never fails to be a good place to visit...and now, I'm going to bedddddddddddddzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Ravenblack said...

Thank you all for your visit and wonderful comments. :)


@Steve: lol. Have a good night.

ayala said...

An awesome write!

Chris said...

Crows and ravens are fascinating. I imagine they would learn this trick fairly quickly, but they certainly would start off like the one in your poem.
There's a great Nature of Things documentary by David Suzuki, called A Murder of Crows. It's available for free watching online. (If you haven't seen it already.)
Great nature write.

dsnake1 said...

wow, an interesting write. i didn't know magpies have passed the mirror test of self awareness, but i find them to be intelligent & adaptable birds. i had one walking beside me on the way to the bus stop the other day. they seem to take to the HDB heartlands very well. :)

Claudia said...

great metaphor in this..how often can't we recognize ourselves in the mirrors life holds into our face..

Laurie Kolp said...

That's so cute that she sees her reflection as a parrot.

Anonymous said...

Very cool. K.

said...

Do any of us really ever recognize the reflection we see in the "mirror" or "a pane of glass"? "Who am I?" is the neverending, cyclical question of existence.

Ravenblack said...

Thanks for your thoughts and comments everyone. I truly appreciate it.


Chris: Thanks for recommendation, I'll go look for that documentary.

Ann Grenier said...

Intriguing: the green tag and rescue add interesting questions about the poems meaning. About a raven recognizing a parrot as well as an abandoned apartment... forces us to ponder what we think we see in our reflections.

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

this is great.

Ravenblack said...

Ann and Morning: thanks for your visit and for reading. Much appreciated your thoughts.

Bodhirose said...

Love your poem--I think even a bird can become confused... So many birds have such high intelligence--I posted a video about a crow that adopted an orphaned kitten! I learned something here about ravens that I didn't know too. I love to hear how different species interact with one another.

Ravenblack said...

Thanks Bodhirose. :)