Crow Call

by Michael Henson

Crow Call

The big wind rocks the hillside trees
like the arms of grief.
High above the rooftops
and the radio pylons
a single black bird
beats, beats against the wind
to stay in place.
I cannot fathom this bird’s mission,
this cold pilgrim,
but he hangs in the gunsmoke sky
as if raised upon a cross.
The big wind draws down
ths snows of Canada.
I want to be
in the silence of the dark trees.
I want to be
where the wind rushes through
the fingers of the dark trees.

— “Crow in the Wind”

Both a memorial and a call to awareness, these poems were written in response to the death of a friend. Buddy Gray, a grassroots activist and co-founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless, was shot by a former client a decade ago in Cincinnati. Many questions remain about the killing of this man that sparked a funeral march of over two thousand mourners through the streets of the city.

Some of the poems deal directly with Gray and his murder, while others address a variety of topics: grief, poverty, and the struggle for a decent way of life; the effect of homelessness on the spirit; the nature of sacrifice and the creation of a common voice. Weaving through them all, a chorus of watchful crows counts the hours and observes the human participants.

In his invocation, the poet calls on the spirits of heroes and the artists who stand behind them:

Debs and Tubman, King and Neruda
Whitman, Lorca, and Florence Reece.
Tom McGrath and Joe Hill, I call
William Blake and Aunt Molly Jackson.

Echoes of their voices, as well as those of Tennyson, Vallejo, Ginsberg, and Dickinson, can be heard throughout the book. Crow Call can be read either as a meditation on injustice or an extended elegy in the tradition of “In Memoriam,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” and “Kaddish.” However it is read, it touches the heart.

5-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches • 88 pages • ISBN 0-9753486-6-3 • $12.95
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