Ravens

by Fred Russell

Ravens squawking
In the trees
Or hopping on the ground
To get their fill
Of putrid swill
They eat
They drink
They sleep
They screw
That’s all
They really
Do
Or maybe
They enjoy
The evening
Breeze
As well
When they’re
All through.

Fred Russell is the pen name of an American-born writer living in Israel. Under his own name and his pen name he had published seven novels, two collections of stories and a novella. His latest Fred Skolnik novel is A Woman of Valor, a mammoth family saga, which is in effect a history of the Jews in the 20th century via Poland, the Holocaust and the State of Israel. He is also the editor in chief of the 22-volume 2nd edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica, winner of the 2007 Dartmouth Medal.