Chuck

To begin with, Chuck is a black crow, and

He's straight out of Hitchcock central casting

Except, of course, for his high-topped orange, black

Laced tennies, which, now that I think about

It, would make it hard to grip onto those

Iron jungle-jim bars, where school teacher

Annie Hayworth - in three vignettes - sees crows:

First one alights, followed by a few more,

Until, finally, hundreds of birds crowd

Every inch of that jungle-jim, and

Annie then knows something's just not right in

Bodega Bay; but Annie keeps her cool

Even when all hell breaks loose, as it does

Do invariably, from time to time.

 

Chuck stands apart from the other black crows

You know, the ones without the tennis shoes

Relentlessly chasing the school children

As they run screaming and crying down the

Country lane, in vain, as the birds peck and

Claw and terrify the young who madly

Race - some falling - to their seemingly safe

Harbor village (which is having it's own

Problems), I'd like to think that Chuck would hold

Back (his shoes would slow him down a bit,

Anyway), not that he is not very

Terrifying (if comic), his needle

Beak, sharpened to Pencil B precision,

Could peck an eye out in a surgical

Strike, leaving the mess for the nurses to

Clean up afterward, as school nurses do.

 

But our Chuck seems satisfied looking on

From a distance, in his orange tennis shoes

I guess some crows like to stay put and watch.