Ravens, by Aldona Dziedziejko

Raven, by Henry Busse (Northwest Territories, Canada) exact date unknown, c. 1950s?

​Ravens 
 
On our way 
to the dump 
through a narrow winter trail 
a stark sight-- 
obsidian topped white tamaracks.  
 
Like x-mas tree toppers, 
except smouldering inside 
their anthracite coal  
blackness 
those ravens sat smack dab  
on lanky conifer leaders. 
 
Heads tucked low  
into the down of their napes, they looked sullen 
watching the snow lay a thin gauze 
on household detritus-
ghost appliances, shattered crates,  
dismantled cabin frames,  
torn plastic bags overflowing with scraps. 


Gaudy flowers spilling  
from the horn of plenty in a Rococo painting. 
 
The birds lost their grease-slick sheen of Autumn back
when they surfed updrafts,  
and pierced quickly and swiftly through vacuum packed steaks  
sat aside for porch BBQ’s. 
 
Now like us they’re slow, introspective 
on the lookout 
for crummy treasures 
in frozen images of boreal lore.  
 
Aldona Dziedziejko 

Aldona Dziedziejko is a Polish-Canadian poet and academic. Her poems appeared in Antithesis (SFU), Juice (U of W), CV2 (Winnipeg), subTerrain (Vancouver), Poetry is Dead (Vancouver) and the Nanaimo Art Gallery's "How can we speak differently?" event (Nanaimo). She has received the Lina Chartrand Poetry Award for an emerging poet in celebration of women’s achievements in writing.  She is currently living in a remote hamlet in the Northwest Territories teaching visual art and special projects.