Raven, Helsinki Harbor

The raven stood in a baby carriage and croaked to passersby. Her voice was a purple softness, really not much.

Something about a dingy bird is a question—where shall we work and live—or how did it come to this, a thing called “in public” standing near the ocean among balloons and pies?

Where did the baby vanish to?

A breeze rides in with its assignment. A woman laughs because she thinks she’s partly immortal.

Credit

Copyright © 2019 by Stephen Kuusisto. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 18, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“My childhood occurred in Helsinki, just a few short steps from the harbor. I return there frequently as the Baltic holds deep significance for me. Birds. Darkness. Wind.”
Stephen Kuusisto