Felix Crow by Kay Ryan

Crow school

is basic and

short as a rule-

just the rudiments

of quid pro crow

for most students.

Then each lives out

his enlightened

span, adding his

bit of blight

to the collected

history of pushing out

the sweeter species;

briefly swaggering the

swagger of his

aggravating ancestors 

down my street.

And every time

I like him

when we meet.

Analysis 

In the title of the poem, Ryan relates the crow to the felix, so we know the poem puts crows in a good light.  Some key words and phrases in the poem are: rudiments, quid pro crow, blight, sweeter species, and aggravating ancestors. Rudiments are the first principles of a subject. Quid pro crow should actually read as quid pro quo and it means that if you give something, you get something back in return. Blight, is a cause of disease, ruin, or frustration.

I believe that this poem addresses the nature of evolution within the crow family, where the speaker in the poet has a grudging liking for the crow.

The first stanza of the poem directly remarks on evolution by summarizing the process as "basic and short" and being the "rudiments of quid pro crow". Meaning evolution is not a complex process, it is short, and the current species takes qualities from ancestors while passing on their own qualities to the next generation. Coming to the second stanza, the poet adopts a tone of sarcasm and dislike. Speaking to the current species, the poet comments on "his bit of blight" meaning something in him is distasteful and that he has a history of "pushing out the sweeter species". This is somewhat ironic and contradicts Darwinism, suggesting that the poet has a dislike of the 'survival of the fittest' attitude by calling the extinct species the "sweeter" one.  In the second half of the second stanza the tone shifts into a joking and playful one, the phrase "swaggering the swagger" is using repetition to emphasis the annoying behavior of his "aggravating ancestors" down the street, clearly referring to the cawing of the crow. Despite the suggestions during most of the poem that imply that the crow is intolerable and annoying, the poet devotes the last stanza to say "every time" they meet, the poet likes him.