Grief is the Thing with Feathers

The boys notice black feathers on each of their pillows at night. They decide to sleep on the floor. Dad grows tired of all the well-wishers who have come one by one to the grieving family’s home to try to help take care of them in the wake of Mum’s death. When the doorbell rings yet again, he is greeted by a giant crow who picks him up and tells him, “I won’t leave until you don’t need me anymore” (6). He reluctantly greets the crow, who then disappears.

Crow describes the family’s home, noting how Mum still seems like she is everywhere, even though she has recently died. Crow describes watching Dad as he sleeps, going so far as to kiss him and put his claw around Dad’s eyeball. He leaves a feather on Dad’s forehead.

Dad struggles to work on his book about Ted Hughes. Invariably, he becomes distracted and doodles instead, drawing images of his wife’s funeral, in which every guest has the head of a crow, or of his wife’s corpse being picked apart by birds.