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Join Peter White Public Library in celebrating reading, literature, and the diverse people who make up our home in the Upper Peninsula.

March 14, 2025: Janeen Pergrin Rastall, "When I Return as a Crow"



When I Return as a Crow

by:  Janeen Pergrin Rastall

For Rick

When I return as a crow,
albumin will cling as I pip
my shell. Head first, I will thrust,
damp and fierce into the nest.
I will hop down branches,
and sideways eye caterpillars,
wintergreen, and you. Day after day,
I will watch you, delight in your grin,
your bear-like snatch at berries as you
stride the paths. I will call to you, my voice
the rattle of gravel in a can. Wanting to woo you,
I will strut and flap. Roadkill and glints
of fast-food litter will not tempt me.
I will guard your blueberries,
molt, grow bald beneath my beak.
When winds from Nunavut rush south,
I will not fly away. I will perch
in the pine east of your window,
quell my raucous call, wait
the next turn of the wheel,
another chance to behold you.



Janeen Pergrin Rastall, a retired system analyst lives in Gordon, MI with Richard Rastall, the editor, and publisher of Superior Voyage. She likes to hike, travel, and occasionally write poetry.  She is a Yooper.

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