Raven

The American cousin to Hughes’ Crow flaps, caws and spraddles onto the pages in this poetry collection. Crow, meet Raven.

In the mythologies of cultures worldwide, Raven, or his smaller cousin, Crow, is often portrayed as an ever-selfish, ever-hungry trickster and destroyer. In this collection, John Smelcer has crafted Raven as all these things, but also as an Instigator who was present at key moments of human history when things went awry. This is the collection that Hughes considered to be the American cousin to his Crow.

“Crow, Raven, and the Hughes-Plath Family Tree”The Unlikely History of the Art of RavenMythopoeticaThe Birth of Raven 1Ravencolor 2Raven’s Song of Himself 3A Lingering Doubt 4The Day after SaturdayCreation Myth 5Raven and the First People 6Raven’s Theology 7When God Tried to Teach 8Raven to SpeakWhen God Tried to Teach 9Raven MathematicsWhen God Tried to Teach 10Raven CompassionRaven Remembers 11What Raven Had for Breakfast 12The Temptation of Eve 13The Mark of Cain 14God Apologizes for the FloodExodus RavenThe Other Temptation of Christ 15Passover, 33 A. D. 16GolgothaThe Substitute 17Beowraven 18Raven Fly Trap 19Raven’s Vision 20Raven Sends Out a Search Party 21Raven’s Hit List 22Raven Remodels the World 23Extinction Theory 24Raven and Killer Whale 25The Dog Husband 26When Raven Tried Benevolence 27Raven, the Problem-Solver 28The Corpse King 30Raven’s Mask 31The Blue Prince 32The Birth of IagoInstigatorFrankenravenStool Pigeon 33To Build a Fire 34Raven & VinnyRaven’s Titanic FunRaven Cum Laude 35Heil Raven 37Role ModelCivil DisobedienceElectric RavenNew York City, 1969 38Raven’s Doppelganger 40A Tibetan Myth 42Raven’s Shell GameFreud Discovers the God ComplexRaven Goes on a Game ShowGender BenderRaven Pulls his Trump CardRaven Writes the Epitaph for HumanityThe Law of Entropy 43In the Language Raven Gave UsZen Raven 45The Meaning of Life 46Prayer Singer 48A Minor Correction 49Hunter’s Luck 50When Raven Was Killed 52Hide & Seek with Raven 54Raven & Butterfly 55Corax CoraxAfter a Sermon at the Church 57Paradise Lost 58Unemployment Line 59Raven Takes a Career 60American Indian Self-Police 61Returning the Gift 62The MealKinship 64Witness 65Ravens at AuschwitzRaven OracleA Raven Funeral 66The Great Religious Trial 68Raven Addresses the JuryA Modern Day Indian Fairy Tale 69RoadkillThe Myth-Makers Imbibe 70