How Crows Talk and Willows Walk

Gary Esarey

Though the preface to Gary Esarey’s volume claims “this little book [is] not art and craft but a parody of art, a grim bouffe stiffened by hard weather and cold,” it is a fitting introduction to the playful and often hilarious poems within. With titles such as “Pinch ruddy those cheeks of slumber” (“Pastel-gray on black/ the streaks of May do jog awake,/ the clouding night the day/ doth disendarkle...”) and “Trixi leaves town behind” (“Tacoma—/ it rebuffs improvement/ with time its smell diminishes/ its virtue is not overpraised...”), Esarey tips off the reader: expect parody, musical language, and humor in this work.

A sample poem from the book

Gelded Youth

Women are to blame for my ugliness

they keep bringing it up

just once I nearly danced but not since

junior high; being crazy excused me

I could find no business in my head

I felt like a bear reared up with a fish in my mouth

not cool

because I am more snouted and gluttonous than a school boy.

Some names I heard my uncles say I want to live in

Whitehorse Yellowknife Okanogan they’re so artless

raw meat towns like Montana.

But if I were better looking

if I could drive to heaven in a Maserati—I’d go

through Vancouver and Seattle, I’d have faith in Jesus

though it meant no self respect.