Laura Purdie Salas offers a 15 Words or Less Poem Challenge from a photo prompt each Thursday. Today’s challenge photo is below:

Photo credit: Laura P. Salas

I try to allow myself only 10-15 minutes to play around with this challenge as it’s intended as a sort of warm up, a rough draft exercise. I loved today’s picture, the stark and silent mood of it with that solitary silhouetted crow.  Crows are birds of mystery and magic, and symbols of death or change.  With these facts in mind, today’s effort evolved into a rather dark poem.

Sentinel

No raucous cry
pierces the sky
The crow keeps watch
Will we change
or die?

Molly Hogan (c) 2016