The murder of crows
Swirls up over the great street
Then settles in park

First Jupiter then
Venus near sky line appears
With Saturn between

Look back late to see
Where the crows have flown away
Without leaving sign

Walk and walk the rim
Of the southern bottom line
Of this old city

Where the boats have gone
To winter yards and the leaves
Still cling to cold trees

And the groove’s structure
Stands outlined even in grim dark
Left by setting sun
As the just full moon
Huge golden sphere rises up
Behind branches screen

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.