A Poem About Crows

Written by Hannah Dang, with support from the DAC team

People fear murders
And not only the kind who kill

Long ago,
We were worshiped
Inside temples of gold,
Besides gods and legends

Now,
We are whispered
To be liars and thieves
As omens of plagues and death
Mistaken
For black birds and ravens

Locking their windows,
Spy and see,
A mob, spits and stones thrown
At the crows nesting in their tree

Blocking the cries for our deceased
Another fell to this disease

Beady eyes remember their faces
Thought and memory remember their hatred

Think parrots speak the most?
Wrong, crows do
Pick our brains
What are our thoughts
Every bird
Needs a branch to perch

We have fought, not with swords
But with our words
It is not our claws
That are sharp
But the claws
From our tongues

You can beat us down til our wings are broken
Pluck out our feathers, one by one, til we’re naked
Our murder is in the billions

You think we bring death?
You think we bring bad luck?
Make us disappear like whiteout
Sorry to tell you, it’s a blackout

For as long as we must,
We will caw for justice
And for acceptance