re:Virals 552

“More difficult than making your own verses interesting is understanding those of others…” ―Shinkei (1406 –1475). Citing this, Onitsura (1661 – 1738) wrote: “…this should be a way in which a person is completely given over to training.”

Welcome to re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly commentary feature on some of your favorites among the best contemporary haiku and senryu written in English. In the host chair today is Keith Evetts. This week’s poem, chosen by Dan Campbell was:

   
dawn chill—
a crow reminds me 
to use my wings
—Thomas L. Vaultonburg
 "The Mamba" Journal of  Africa Haiku Network, Issue 19, February 2026

Introducing this poem, Dan writes:

I selected this poem because it pays tribute to the wisdom and intelligence of crows. Crows are fascinating birds and I often leave snacks and goodies for them at a local park.

The chill of dawn sharpens the world, and in that thin, trembling light the crows’ caws arrive like instruction—low, insistent—an urging toward motion, toward awakening. Crows shape twigs into tools, remember faces, hold grudges, teach their young the hidden grammar of survival. I enjoy watching them strut in the snow like kings and queens with their heads held high.

Host comment (Keith):

Thomas’ short haiku is tinged with lyrical imagination. It reads and sounds well.

The crow has a wide range of symbolic associations: death and rebirth; wisdom; mythical messenger of the spirits; craft and problem-solving, notably in native American lore as tricksters who subvert the expected. Crows and their caws are often conspicuous at dawn as well as dusk. With just the one syllable and all the foregoing, it is a haiku bird for all seasons, although as a kigo in Japanese saijiki it is generally autumn, following Bashō’s famous verse.

As I read the lines here, we open with a somewhat downtrodden poet, perhaps suffering, or so believing. Perhaps hung over. It is dawn, a time of impending renewal, but it is chill, in keeping with the sombre associations of the crow, establishing a portentous mood. Yet, the poet sees, even this shiny black scavenger with the harsh voice has wings, can take off and ….fly.  Hope is the thing with feathers.

Some might say that “reminds” looks like personification. For me, it is not personification, because the poet is not I think suggesting—or imagining—that the crow actually talks to him (although crows can mimic human speech).  This crow is showing, not telling.   It is the sight of the crow taking off and flying that reminds the poet that he doesn’t have to put up with things—he too can fly, can soar, in his way. The poet doesn’t have wings, of course: this is not zoomorphism, here “wings” is used metaphorically.

And thus, instead of the customary use of the crow image as a harbinger of unknown doom, the end is upbeat.  Hey, buddy, however chill and dark things seem, even a crow can FLY.

        ♫ O for the wings, for the wings of a dove!
             Far away, far away would I rove! ♫

Urszula Marciniak:

We all have great potential and almost superhuman powers.
In our daily lives, we forget this.

With our wings folded beneath our gray cloaks, we rush through the streets and paths. We don’t blaze new trails;  we follow footsteps. Society dislikes those who stand out. Over time, some of these unused wings weaken. Their owners look with envy and disbelief at those who haven’t lost theirs. They are convinced it’s too late for them, too late to do anything.

But a situation arrives that chills us. We must use our wings now. We remember how to do it. And the crow looks at us and smiles in its own way, though it’s difficult to read it in its beak.

Mariola Grabowska:

This haiku appeals to several senses. The first line, “dawn chill,” brings to mind early spring or early autumn—that time of year when something ends and something begins. It’s cool because winter is reluctant to leave, or perhaps summer is preparing to depart. Either way, the first line sets a mood of unpleasant change; though we know the day will still bring sun and warmth, the morning chill makes us feel the inevitability of nature’s rhythm. After the first line, we have a clear cut; though visually it might not be marked, it emphasizes, as it were, the persistence of the state we are in—that the dawn chill is not a brief moment, a fleeting instant; it lasts long enough for us to feel the cold to the core.

The second line focuses more on what we see rather than what we feel; it is the image of a crow, whose blackness evokes the night that has barely passed, and whose motionless, almost frozen silhouette is a sign that unsettles us, lingering behind our eyelids long after we wake. What message does it want to convey to me, “from the other side of the darkness”? What is it reminding me of?

We find a surprising answer in the third line—“so that I may use my wings”! What does that mean? Firstly, the obvious conclusion—I have “wings,” I just forget about them. I succumb too easily to my moods, sinking into nostalgia and pessimism instead of drawing strength from them. Secondly, “wings” that aren’t used stop working as they should. They are beautiful and strong, capable of lifting me high, helping me break free from mundane matters, but I must desire it. That’s all. That’s a lot.

The crow, often seen as an ominous, menacing symbol, becomes a friend in this haiku. It is an extraordinarily beautiful, profound, and moving haiku.

Uma Padmanabhan:

The crow is that one friend who runs marathons for fun. You’re still negotiating with your blanket.The crow doesn’t text motivation quotes — it just flaps past your window doing aerial smugness.

So basically: nature’s original motivational speaker showed up. Dress code: all black. Fee: one caw. Message: Quit being a land mammal and flap, Thomas.

Poetic version: inspiration.

Funny version: you just got bird-shamed at sunrise!

Sudha Devi Nayak:

A chill and dark dawn. No mellifluous bird song calling to the dawn but the raucous caw of the crow. There she sat bright eyed puffing up her wings creating her own warmth. I reach for my blanket and melt into the folds of its warmth in that delicious morning slumber. Even as I drift into dreams I recall the poor crow alone on a branch.The humble bird with no advantage of extravagant plumage or grace of voice could still pass on a valuable lesson. Not waiting for others, not relying on external crutches but to fall back on our inner resources and be independent in our comfort and happiness. The crow reminds me too of the millions of homeless in make shift shelters trying to make their lives in dire circumstances.still seeking happiness where it cannot be found, attempting to rise above the wretchedness and misery of it all and finding random rays of light.

The crow’s exhortation to the poet to use his wings can also mean to look forward beyond his immediate confines and see meaning.Seeing an ordinary crow take flight early in the morning can inspire someone,motivate to exercise their imagination and creativity. A chilly dawn is enticement for lethargy and self indulgence. The poet is forcing himself inspired by the bird to fight that natural instinct for retirement and take action.
The insignificant crow is in its own way a mentor just as a grain of sand is a mentor to the pearl it catalyses into being. Once the beautiful pearl is formed the grain of sand loses its identity and ceases to be. The grain of sand is significant by being absent. So is the crow significant to the poet as it teaches him to soar above the mundanities of life to brighter worlds- ” the spark that ignites the clod”

Alan Harvey:

This haiku by Thomas Vaultonburg begins closed in but expands outward. The dawn at the start of your day begins with a chill so you bundle up. Your body is closed.

Crows are the smaller cousins of the avian prophesiers, ravens. They can be a trusted source of information, so when they tell you to use your wings, you should listen. Unfurl your arms and take a chance. The day is dawning and you have unlimited potential.

This haiku unfolds with hope and confidence and courage. It’s a very uplifting message and holds a heavy message for such a short poem.

Radhamani Sarma:

In human lives, seasons, appearance, age, weather, last but not the least money play a very crucial role, shaping our lives, or marring them with a gruesome end.

The first line beginning with ” dawn chill—” leaving space for readers: The word “chill” encompasses a range of connotations . For example, the great bard of England, used the term “”chill penury froze the genial current of the age,” signifying the intensity of poverty, bitter, cold and uncompromising etc.  Similarly,  here, the early morning chill is repressive, the sufferer, the persona unable to come out of it; perhaps, the shrinking skin, the thin structure, the shiver running like a tremor in the body— all contribute to a passivity, a state of despair.   Dawn chill also adumbrates intensity, coupled with darkness, sun yet to rise.

The universal image of ‘crow’ appears in the first person take by the affected: “a crow reminds me / to use my wings”.  Perchance, in the author’s vision, a crow is a timely reminder, savior, solution provider, helpmate, and above all redeemer that hints that the poet should take flight to some warmer region, a sort of escapism to be away from biting cold.  Here is a quote: “The crow is notorious for its adaptability to urban environments; it’s become a symbol of survival.” Jennifer Ackerman.

Finally , one can visualize that the author perceives, in the wings of crow, a place of re birth, redemption and negation of this: JANMA OR BIRTH leading to next birth —is the only solution.
The imaginary concept of wings appended to the afflicted also conveys a rise, a shift mode to a better form of survival. “Crows are not only capable of problem-solving, but they also understand the concept of the future.” John Marzluff

Thanks to The Mamba journal for publishing this gift with crow as an image. Thomas L. Vaultonburg has depicted universal suffering and a shift, a remedy for all, a panacea.

Cezar Ciobica:

The first line introduces us to the atmosphere. It seems to be an autumn morning, before leaving for work or on the way to work.
The second line has in the foreground the crow, which everyone knows to be a noisy, restless bird. The verb incites us, makes us think. What could this bird remind the author of?

The last line is about wings as a symbol of flight. It is impossible to know what difficult moments the author is going through, one can speculate, but the important thing is that it is not exactly the time to give up, metaphorically speaking, on wings. It is obvious that there is still hope, a way to overcome difficulties, a ladder to the sky.

Sitarama Seshu Maringanti:

Man has to look to the Nature sometimes for clues to overcome an intractable issue. The aviation industry is known to have gained by copying and imitating the patterns of winds. That the aves too have something to offer to Man to resist the effects of extreme weather conditions seems to be the message hidden in the haiku of Thomas L Vaultonburg. Here the example of a crow protecting itself against the chill of the dawn by drawing its wings/feathers close to its body is cited with the implied suggestion man has learnt to protect himself against the bitterness of cold by pulling his blankets/comforters much closer to his body to conserve the heat of his body. The poet has composed the haiku after a keen observation of a natural phenomenon.

Beata Czeszejko—bringing light out of our inner shadow:

According to Greek mythology, the raven (the crow’s fellow corvid) was originally white. From ancient times it served as a herald bird. When the bird brought Apollo news of his lover’s unfaithfulness, the god cursed it in a fit of rage. Its pristine white plumage turned pitch black, forever marking the raven as a symbol of ill fortune.

Growing up, I was often captivated by tales and the soothsaying shared by elderly women. They maintained that a crow approaching from the right portends bad news. However, if a black bird appears from the left, it signals something far more sinister: a true calamity.

One could analyze such imagery through the lens of structuralism or phenomenology; even a simple haiku about a crow can be dissected from ecological or feminist perspectives. Yet, the most compelling approach is to look at this seemingly simple—but deceptively complex—text through the lens of Jungian archetypes. It is worth revisiting Freud during reading Thomas L. Vaultonburg’s haiku for what remains hidden and suppressed, yet startlingly new. Reading that haiku poem leaves a reader with a new sharpness of vision.

Shivering in the cold morning light—a moment of pure, raw anxiety—the lyrical subject gets a sudden chance to change. In this scene, the predatory crow gives the lyrical subject wings as a gift. Although we usually see this dark bird as a symbol of our own inner shadow, this meeting actually sparks a deep change in the lyrical subject’s inner world.

The second line, “a crow reminds me (to use my wings),” serves as a bridge between the first and third line. It evokes a sudden realization that we already possess wings, though they have long been forgotten. To find one’s inner light, one must simply recognize these wings and reclaim their presence.

According to his analyses, Jung describes, among other things, the figure of the caput corvi (the corvid’s—raven or crow’s—head). That was a symbol of a new beginning for the Great Work and the inevitable encounter with one’s own depths.

How and in what situations can we bring light out of our inner shadow? As Saint Luke the Physician said, how do we make the “whole body filled with light” and find joy within sadness?

It seems almost impossible to find light out of darkness, doesn’t it? Many psychologists argue that suffering does not ennoble us; it does not inherently provide positive energy. If traumatic events are stripped of their nobility and if traumatic events are devoid of any redeeming quality, what then can help transform trauma into bright happiness?

Perhaps encounters with the creative power of nature can give us wings? Perhaps meeting the right people can fill us with light from within?

Author Thomas L. Vaultonburg:

Thank you very much for including the haiku in re:Virals. I appreciate the opportunity.

The haiku came from a simple early morning moment—one of those transitional spaces where the body feels the day before the mind has fully caught up. To me Crow appears alternately as Trickster/Encourager. Here, Encourager.

Thanks to all who sent commentaries. As the contributor of the commentary reckoned best this week, Beata has chosen next week’s poem, which you’ll find below. We invite you to write a commentary to it. It may be short, to a maximum of 500 words (succinctness will be valued); academic, your personal response, spontaneous, or idiosyncratic.  As long as it focuses on the verse presented, and with respect for the poet, all genuine reader reaction, criticism, and pertinent discussion is of value.   Out-takes are kept in the THF Archives.  Best of all, the chosen commentary’s author gets to pick the next poem.

Anyone can participate. Simply use the re:Virals commentary form below to enter your commentary on the new week’s poem (“Your text”) by the following Tuesday midnight, Eastern US Time Zone, and then press Submit to send your entry. The Submit button will not be available until Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in. We look forward to seeing your commentary and finding out about your favourite poems.

Poem for commentary:

     
milk bubbles
from a straw this universe
& that & that
— Joyce Clement
  Frogpond 38:2
  THF Volunteers Anthology 'kick the clouds' 2025
  Modern Haiku Anthology Haiku 21.2, 2025 

Footnote:

Thomas L. Vaultonburg’s haiku have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Heron’s Nest, Presence, Acorn, Modern Haiku, Wales Haiku Journal, Haiku Commentary, and Failed Haiku. He lives in Rockford, Illinois.
Website: Wolf Twin Books
Bluesky: @wolftwinthomas.bsky.social

You can find Thomas’ fuller bio and a photo at Poets and Writers.

——–

Interesting that one commentator, and in the background another correspondent, read the verse not as flying and soaring but as the crow keeping warm within its wings. Which never occurred to me before they mentioned it. One of the joys of this feature.

Several commentators confused their corvids, notably the crow (which is in the poem) and the raven (which isn’t). I have amended where I thought it necessary.

All kinds of commentary can be put forward to be reckoned ‘best.’  One frequently sees unnecessarily effusive commentaries in other fora, and they are not as likely to gain purchase here.  As so often, it was not easy to decide who gets the golden apple this week. I plumped for Beata, although to take Freudian and Jungian psychology, and suggest that the language of phenomenology and structuralism, plus ecology and feminism, should be applied to this little verse is perhaps to crack a nut with a steamroller.  Uma’s light touch was an appealing antidote!  Sometimes, the lighter the touch, the more seductive.  Sometimes, not quite.

re:Virals is co-hosted by Shawn Blair, Melissa Dennison, Susan Yavaniski, and Keith Evetts (managing editor).

Comments: further discussion is invited below. Comments will close after a week when this post is archived.

THF strives to maintain a safe and friendly environment for our readers and site participants. Participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior of all parties. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, for any reason, at any time.

If you see something you feel may violate our Code of Conduct, please report it to the appropriate moderator (the host of this post) or the President here.