Scarecrow Remembers
I recall nothing before my eyes captured
the horizon and the looped whorl of night’s
afterglow, the first crow-plumes
crossing from left to right, awakened to
everything but my history and what
preceded the morning. By midday
I had mastered the secret language of
corvids and learned to interpret the wind’s
folly. When the sun eased below the hills,
I divined the angle of declination and tilted
my head to true north, thinking this is my
calling, to point the way. But how few
of us bottle our life’s cause to sip as
needed. Later my dark friends whispered
the truth, and we laughed among the
rustling stalks as I pointed the way
not to the Alhambra or even Wichita,
but to the choicest kernels. Placed here
for one purpose, another claimed me.
I am the future without past, the present
decaying, tomorrow’s joke, impermanent
and shadowed. I am anomaly, risen.
* * *
“Scarecrow Remembers” was first published at The High Window in December 2016.
bravo (again) sir
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Thank you!
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Good one! Each reading stirs something new – this morning I’m struck by “wind’s folly” – thinking trickster Wind and Scarecrow are an odd couple (at best) – thinking of my own unexpected responses to Wind on certain occasions.
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I think wind plays a big part in a scarecrow’s life. It certainly does in mine. 🙂
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One of my favorites. I have been thinking a lot about memory, both my own and that of those I know whose memories have been turned inside out by the body’s breakdown. Scarecrow gives us insight into that too I think, simply by being. (K)
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Scarecrow is well aware of his impermanence and that of his mind. Losing mine is a great fear, I must admit. Bits and pieces wither off, but I hope the bulk will remain.
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It’s a frightening prospect. My genes are not favorable, but, as scarecrow knows, we are often just carried along by the wind.
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That’s my plan: go with the wind.
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Scarecrow, always a favorite.
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Thanks, Pablo.
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I shall now look upon the scarecrows in the paddocks with knowing fondness
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And they’ll look at you the same.
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I do love this one!
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Thank you, Betty!
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Pleased to see him back
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Scarecrow comes and goes…
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Absolute magic. I love hearing you read. And I would love to be able to master the “secret language of corvids”…*sigh* ❤
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Thank you, Carrie. I think it takes a special emptiness to capture that language!
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Beautiful, Bob. I especially like “Placed here/for one purpose, another claimed me.”
How often my day-to-day life feels just like that.
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My entire being seems to have followed that pattern!
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“But how few of us bottle our life’s cause to sip as needed.” Preciousness we just can’t seem to hold on to. This was beautiful! Wichita as in Kansas? I wonder if you were in my neck of the woods? 🙂
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Thank you, Susi. I attended K-State in 1976-77, but haven’t returned to Kansas since. Winter was too cold for me!
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It’s getting warmer! Lol 🙂
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Not warm enough. In winter, that is. ❄️❄️❄️
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Yeah, I’m actually more of a beach person myself. I won’t be staying here forever but I do love the openness of the land. We’re out in the country. 🙂
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