Strategy Week 5

Eric Smith’s “Crows” works to display recursivity by repeating and repositioning the word “noon” from the first line and images of crows as the title introduces to build a rhythm and also a reference point for the rest of the poem. By recycling noon, an allusion to day or lightness, and crows, an allusion to night or darkness, the poet continues blending the two contrasting elements together throughout. In these lines “It’s just effortless to burst/ into the white shiver of early/ afternoon, open-mouthed,/ and expect someone else/ to do the work of crows” (217) the mention of noon in “afternoon” and reminder of the imager of crows create a harmony as to suggest both must exist. This recursivity works so that the sounds repeated give the poem value.