the crowfish myth

legend says that a few years back,
sometime after castles but before
the iphone,
there was a lone crow
who had flown off the beaten path of his
murder---
who no doubt was taking a leisurely flight
through an unchartered part of town---
when in taking a low swoop down near the surface of the
water
somewhere behind the paterson paper company,
it saw the silhouette of a fish
directly beneath its own shadow
within the clearest part of the
already
gray water, which made up the discharge behind
the
plant.

our crow in question,
she felt a little grumbling in her crow stomach---
she was hungry from the flight,
as her fellow crows had not chosen to stop off and
snack on some newly dead animal fellows
as of most recent
& she was sick of waiting for the rest of em’ to get around to it.

on this curious evening,
our crow, she decided to take her chance on this living fish,
who swimming close to the surface,
would be an easy catch
(given the general stupidity of the fish-kind).

she gave out a “caw-caw”
to allow the fish a few moments to gear up for its
impending
death---
& while watching its big eye on one side
look up through the surface
as if to understand simultaneously
that all the things it had planned for the rest of its fish-life
were now about to come to an end
it did not swim down deep
but instead
closed that eye
(while the one on the other side did the same).

with all 8 talons of swift carnal strength
our crow in question
penetrated the surface & with a lightening-fast
reflex
sliced into the body of the stupid fish
tearing in, killing it, and then retracting from the water
(as quickly as it did enter),
now pulling the fish out &
taking it in flight up to a nearby tree limb
to finish the deal.

while taking its time to rip apart the new kill,
our crow in question found the rather yellow
insides of the fish
to be different than it had seen before---
but as the bird was more often used to eating
carrion,
it was a beggar & not a chooser---
still, the yellowing fish
did irk
our crow in question.

the crow took a second gander at the spot of water where it had
recently
snagged the stupid fish,
and while finishing up what it wanted from the body &
dropping the rest down from the tree,
it began to feel odd---
while at the same time noticing that the water was a bit green &
funky
when the moonlight shined down right.

before it could make its flight back to its murder
(who by now had put some distance between itself & our crow),
it began to feel sick,
and decided to descend quickly to the ground below
where it could stabilize itself upon the
ground.

it started to shake & shiver,
nauseated, no doubt much the same that the stupid fish did,
prior to its quick death only a few moments ago.

but this feeling was not one that the crow recognized
and while bending over and throwing up remnants of the
fish it had just ingested
it began to feel its body changing.

instantaneously,
attributes of the fish that it had just eaten
began to take hold of the crow---
in the shape-shifting madness,
the crow had grown fins, gills, and it began to breath
in a manner which forced it to creep towards the water.

with fearful eyes,
it cocked its head towards the sky
but there were none of its fellow
crows
anywhere to be seen.

now, instinctively,
without much choice in the matter,
it made its way to the water’s edge
and dove down beneath the surface
“flying” below
with its newly acquired wing-fins.

utterly confused & might we say,
a quite a bit terrified,
the “crowfish” became acquainted with the night of the
river below
quicker than one would assume it might
given these new circumstances---
it did not cower,
nor did it die from shock---
instead, it adapted with its new characteristics
now taking part in a new life of
avenging the fish
for what had been done---
cursing both its crow-kind as well as its fish-kind
as a new breed of something that only human textile excrement
could possible
muster.

stupid fish,
the river-world over,
gurgle to each other about the crow-fish
who at night flies from the cold river’s waters to fight back against those
flying beasts
whom before they only saw through the translucent surface
and whom they had feared
much like early humans
might have attempted to understand shooting stars or
comets,
twisters or possibly hail.

likewise,
the crow-kind never located their lost friend
now wondering if the gossip amongst the murders is
true,
that there is a crow among them who now commands both the
wonder
of the sky & of the water---
pushing both realities to their limits.

both fish & crow alike
can only assume that these tales
are just the passing remarks
of members of their respective species
who during one bored afternoon
may have fabricated such
a myth.

however,
until challenged by a more intelligent method of
inquiry,
neither will ever really know.