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Per Diem Archive: S. Kempen November 2018, Ravens and Crows

A collection of haiku featuring ravens and crows, highlighting corvid being: the inventiveness and adaptability of these birds, with some species being able to recognise themselves in the mirror, even show empathy. Their diversity and proximity to human communities has meant that from ancient times, ravens and crows entered human mythology and folklore, populated the arts and our mindscapes becoming potent religious, spiritual, dream symbols.

*The poem ‘march evening’ was translated from German to English by Silvia Kempen

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Author: Klaus-Dieter Wirth
forbidden burning
in thick fog muffled cawing
from the rookery
Author: Simone K. Busch
sunrise
crows trooping up
for hanami
Author: Dietmar Tauchner
Frosty pasture
a crow eats pieces
of the morning sun
Author: Helga Stania
pairs of ravens
the feeling
of loneliness
Author: Beate Conrad
Falling crows —
the growing shadows
of the cold war
Author: Gabriele Hartmann
croaking ravens
I spread my feathers
and join in
Author: Christof Blumentrath
mossy headstone
the raven's cry
deepens the stillness
Author: Eva Limbach
crows in the dust
how little we know
about each other
Author: Wolfgang Beutke
across patches of snow -
a raven’s cry
reminds me
of me
Author: Jack Barry
new crack
across the whole pond
the raven’s caw
Author: Pamela A. Babusci
ravens   raindrops falling from the dead tree
Author: John Hawkhead
out of the tall pines
a pair of ravens tumble
the storm front darkens
Author: Jan Dobb
wide grassland
the crow stretches its call
from pylon to pylon
Author: Sylvia Bacher
somber shadows
on the trees
the first ravens
Author: Eléonore Nickolay
evening sky
a flock of crows
turn off the light
Author: Margaret Chula
teacher’s question
hangs in the drowsy classroom
a crow answers
Author: Alan Summers
Monet’s Haystacks
a group of crows tug
at twilight
Author: Ralf Bröker
raven's shadow
above the door
my hiking song
Author: Jay Friedenberg
headless scarecrow
a raven picks the stuffing
out of its neck
Author: Michelle Tennison
raven shadow clinging tightly to my victim story
Author: Paul Chambers
winter crow 
an eyelash 
on your pillow
Author: Ali Znaidi
still autumn . . .
a baby crow caws
with each fallen leaf
Author: Ron C. Moss
snow follows snow... 
the way a raven moves
over the mountain
Author: Robert Epstein
empty park
two crows start 
the world over
Author: Birgit Schaldach-Helmlechner
Across the snowfield chases
sharp dog barking
after a crow
Author: Klemens Antusch
broad glare –
a crow passes through
the bone-chilling cold
Author: Christopher Herold
nearly deaf — 
the beautiful songs
of crows
Author: Peter Wißmann
march evening
sunshine floating on crow wings
through the mass of houses
Author: Marshall Bood
crow caws
in all directions . . .
the endless traffic
Author: Bob Lucky
dry heat the rasp in the crow's caw
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