Crows On A Gut Pile

Illustration by Lois Rheaume

From my deer shack

on this clear, windless,

frosty morning with

the sleepy moon fading,

I see three crows on

a gut pile. On this clear,

cold, frosty Thanksgiving

morning I watch my

brothers, the crows, raucous

and boisterous, bickering

over this gut pile.

What a bountiful holiday

as they feed heartily on

the entrails of that buck

I shot just a week ago.

And what a glorious Thanksgiving

this cold, comfortable

frosty morning is

for me, as I watch with

wonder at these black

rascals, these shiny black

scavenger scoundrel

cousins to Poe's raven.

They're so beautiful, and

such a perfect symbol of

the wild, natural world.

--Pete Rheaume