The Family Outing - Dec. 26, 2023

five ravens are berry-picking

the palm tree fruit

bunched like grapes

hanging heavy off the bent

fishing pole of a stem

beaks snap the black berries

some falling around me

as I walk under  

their gurgle and cries

between swallows

one large bird peels away

its charcoal cutout against

the late afternoon sun

I wonder why the older

ones never turn gray

when a single black feather

of his descends

in dying loops to earth

like a hair falling

off the head

of a mystery