Nine Ways to Look at a Crow

(With apologies to Wallace Stevens)

i
In a lidded can, all paint is the same color.

ii
Crows like edges. In the heart of the wood the red-eyed vireo is king.

iii
Spanish moss is neither Spanish nor moss.

iv
I see the bidding of wind but not it's soul or home.

v
A card laid is a card played. I shall never run for public office.

vi
A Mayan fisherman once told me that if I started watching a frigate bird I should continue watching until it beat its wings. To look away was rude and would invite illness.

vii
The carpenter that laid out the rafters and joists in my family home numbered them with roman numerals. The number sequence was wrong but consistent. The house is 200 years old. Consistency has its merits.

viii
Milk moves different when the pail is cold.

ix
Pregnant women know more than they are letting on. We should grant them that mystery willingly.