Chloe N Clark

Reading a Headline That Crows Can Carry Grudges for 17 Years

Have you also seen yourself
in the shape of an animal

That I and crows can both
keep a ball of rage
in the base of our throat

There is something tender
in a grudge

How you carry it with gentle
purpose, feed it when necessary

Once I saw a crow
standing guard
by the body of another crow

Friend or mate
or some stranger
it felt worth noticing
worth pausing for

Is a grudge
not a kind of benediction

To know after everything
that you can still
carry

something

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The author of some pretty cool books of fiction and poetry, Chloe N Clark is also a founding co-editor-in-chief of the literary magazine (whose name comes from a Sigourney Weaver movie) Cotton Xenomorph. When not writing, writing, writing, she does things such as writes some more and runs writing classes. Sometimes, she gets wild and reads about writing. Find out more here: https://www.chloenclark.com/.