Crow Face up in a Frozen Pond
by Kevin Acers


By what unlikely
accident did a crow
come to be trapped
beneath the ice?
Absurd for a bird,
but here it is,
its blind eyes staring,
black beak cocked open
as if choking on
a morsel lodged
in its throat.
I cringe imagining
the despair
of its struggle
against elements
its evolution
never foresaw.
Its moment of death
captured as if
in a photograph,
the frozen crow looks
utterly astonished.






Copyright © 2024 by Red River Review. First Rights Reserved. All other rights revert to the authors.
No work may be reproduced or republished without the express written consent of the author.