Crows are clever […] birds that have shown themselves capable of […] remembering human faces [and] holding a grudge. They also flock to members of their own species after death in a behavior that looks like mourning, but which scientists suspect is closer to reconnaissance. — The National Audubon Society

something stirs a somber cawing service: a raucous flock of crows proclaims unease and surrounds a branch-lain corvus corpus; murder! murder! murder in the trees!

they jabber, knowing something we don’t know, a better tool than peaceful funerals: they study close each face around that crow and paint a suspect-hunting death-mural.

man too has left the time to grieve in peace. count each corpse and scream the names until the face of death is known to all with ease, and our murder flocks to vindicate each kill.

crow funerals for shredded, charcoal kids. the shrieks of crime monopolize our lips.