Mother’s Definition For Crows

Every September
she’d pull the car to the side
for crows crossing the sky.
A bad omen.
Once one landed
on the hood of her car
and a tree followed.
It was not death she feared
but wings, startled and dense
searching the September fields
for corn. When I told her
in Jung’s book of symbols
birds represent self
the darker the color
the more repress
the need.
She laughed then sighed.
It is all hunger
she said
hunger and flight.