What if to taste and see, to notice things,
to stand each is up against emptiness
for a moment or an eternity-
images collected in consciousness
like a tree alone on the horizon-
is the main reason we're on the planet.
The food's here of the first crow to arrive,
numbers two and three at a safe distance,
then approaching the hand-created taste
of leftover coconut macaroons.
The instant sparks in the earth's awareness.


About this poem
"The tree is an allusion to a poem by Rilke; the musing wonders whether it's possible to have Gaia consciousness. I was watching crows eat the holiday leftovers I'd tossed out onto the snow. They really liked the coconut macaroons."
-Marilyn Nelson

About Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson is the author of "American Ace" (Penguin/Dial, 2016). She retired as a professor at the University of Connecticut and lives in eastern Connecticut.

***
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2016 Marilyn Nelson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate