Counting crows

By Jenni Blackmore

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1896496040
• ISBN13: 9781896496047
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Roseway
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.4" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Spreading Joy

In 1997, Jenni Blackmore releases Counting Crows, her collection of poetry and short fiction. The book launch and reading occur at Frog Hollow Books in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ms. Blackmore treats those in attendance to readings of three complete poems and excerpts from two stories. As she reads, her English accent rolls like verdant hillsides and leads the audience on a stroll through her creative mind. The first poem read (also the first in the collection) is about "Princess Rose," a jealous Labrador forced to share her owner's affection with a parrot. The tone is light and humorous through most of the poem. The audience reacts accordingly; we laugh in all the right places, such as when Ms. Blackmore lilts: And when I parrot, Beauty-beauty, beauty-beauty, you squirm and wriggle, paws skyward and when I say, So sweety-tweety-tweety, you jump erect and say, Yes me! Yes me! Only at the end does the listener get a sense of something more serious beneath the surface. In this case, the listener is reminded that love takes many forms and need not benefit one at the expense of another. The next two selections put aside all illusions of levity and jump right into a darker world. "Old Bones" reveals the tortured thoughts of a despondent--perhaps suicidal--woman. Most poignant is the scene where the narrator's dog comes upon a "saw, abandoned and already wooed / by moss, which dulls the bite of rusted teeth / with stifling caress." The narrator's sorrow is a part of her past that won't stay far enough behind her. Sorrow is personified as an entity that "tricked me, caught me unawares / and clings now to my back." Sorrow out of the past also surfaces in "Search for the Second Crow." This final reading is also the last poem in the collection and refers back to the collection's epigram, the anonymous poem "One crow sorrow / Two crows joy". Appropriately, the tone by now has shifted to one of hope. The narrator has "grown tired of counting crows" and allows herself to let go of the past. She has taken control of her perceptions. A single crow is no longer seen as the One of sorrow; it "dangles on a stick above some corn." Crow Two is free to travel alone, spreading joy. Counting Crows spreads its own form of joy through stories and poems crafted with loving care. Even after several years, this book still merits considerable attention.

My favorite.

after reading this great book at a local library i instantly knew that i must buy it for my at home collection. its a true treasure that every home should own.