Feeding the Crow

Waiting for Mercy

The other day, my family and I drove to my sister’s place in Liberty Hill. Our drive began in the city, proceeded slowly through suburbs, then into once small country towns now overwhelmed by the expanding city, and finally into the open space of the Texas countryside. Along the way, we talked about some poems by William Stafford that Colleen and I had been reading for a book group we belong to. But two signs also caught my eye. (Actually, they caught my twelve-year old son’s eye, and his attention focused mine.) The first was a state sign that read “LITTERING/IS/unlAWFUL.” The second was a billboard advertising services of a bank with pictures of a milk carton, an egg, and a dollar bill. Below the pictures were the words: Milk, Eggs, Bread. These poems prepared me for the one I found on my sister's refrigerator, a magnet prettily painted with these words: