Written for:  dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics:  Corvid poetry
(posted by Ingrid)

"To the corvidae family belong a variety of birds including ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, choughs, magpies and of course, the common crow. Though these birds may be a familiar sight all around the world, they are quite remarkable in their unique intelligence: European magpies have been shown to recognise themselves in mirror tests, and rooks and ravens have demonstrated their ability to make tools and solve problems. This intelligence has been noted by poets and writers as long ago as Aesop in the 6th century BC."

THE CHALLENGE
For this week’s Poetics, I would like you to choose a member of the corvid family, and (taking inspiration from the examples above if you wish) write a poem (or even a song) about it. Those of you who like an extra challenge may choose to populate your poem with a variety of corvidae. Here are the collective nouns for the main corvid types to get you started:

A treachery of ravens
A parliament of rooks
A clattering of jackdaws
A scold of jays
A chattering of choughs
A mischief of magpies
A murder of crows  


Parliament of rooks
was in session.  'How
do you plead, crows?'
'Not guilty', claimed
the murder.  'Why don't
you question that 
mischief of magpies?'
Magpies whined in
protest, and were
cleared from the court.
A clamor arose from
the clattering jackdaws, 
who were promptly
drowned out by
the scolding jays.
'This treacherous act
was performed by 
the ravens,' chattered
the choughs.  'Okay,
it was me,' said a crow.
'Shoplifting is an act
perfected by my grandfather
who always was a sucker
for shiny things.'

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