outside my
window
perches
black
against
an azure
sky,
scrutinizes
all she sees,
stands—
conspicuous
and
daunting—
on a naked
and contorted
branch,
her proud
and caustic
caws
carve cracks
across the
ice-blue
day,
then
with a
facile flutter
flies with
easy grace
and deftly
guides
my gliding
gaze.