I Prefer Crows

Knowing there is no way to compete with Wallace Stevens, I nonetheless embarked on my own study on crows, as I prefer them to blackbirds.

I

four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie; no one
wants to eat crow

II

it's about four miles
they say, as the crow flies.
but they don't know crows

III

crows are numbered three
and sometimes five
they are at sixes and sevens
along the ditchline

IV

a murder of crows
sampling a roadside buffet
dusk on Loran Road

V

Wallace Stevens viewed
blackbirds in thirteen verses.
I prefer the crow.

VI

big-shouldered, swaggering crows
come in for a landing
on icy rooftops

VII
crows have blunt, square tails
ravens' are elegantly curved
or it's vice versa

VIII...