I didn’t like the crows when they arrived
all shiny dashing black and raucous song.
It’s clear that here agreed with them – they thrived
and didn’t leave, and seem now to belong
as much as people, populating trees
instead of condos, gossiping on wires
the way we do in coffee bars. They seize
their needs with ease and hector us in choirs.

I didn’t know enough to watch in awe
the year crows made a suburb of this place.
I had to learn there’s language in the caw,
enough intelligence to know a face,
and nothing morbid in the corvid heart:
We incorrectly pegged them from the start.