Ravens of Kilifi

they are slender like anorexic size zero models attired totally in black like undertakers announcing the bad news and they have this annoying caw that they like startling us with they go hide behind the leaves of the huge mango tree a whole clan of them ravens then on cue they fly out suddenly cawing loudly making everyone start and stand shocked at their stunt they eat everything i think like vultures but they are ever thin because they are thieves yesterday one snatched away a piece of fried potato from an unsuspecting child's hand the kid looked up at the flying raven with a sad weepy look and a shiny oily hand full of the promise of nothing i wish they would disappear these black undertakers but somehow life would be unbearable for they too have great uses were it not for them the shore-side i love sitting on would forever smell of fish scales and insides that the fishermen throw there and so they irritate me with their annoying caw and fill me me with foreboding when they caw at night for for i am superstitious and they startle me always in the evenings when they perform their endless stunts but when i sit on the clean shore and unleash a biscuit that they caw greedily at as they stare down at me from the baobab trees above i munch peacefully smelling only the salty sea I'm accustomed to then gratefully, and begrudgingly so i smile up in a love hate way at these annoying ravens of kilifi