Crowetry

nest
reading

A movement and word game in 2 parts

for 2-12 players in 20-40 minutes
by Jackson Tegu.

we are before play

crows and we are building a nest together. make strips of paper from Ltr or A4 pieces of paper, cutting
them as long as you can, each about 1 inch or 3cm wide.
A good nest will give new thoughts. New thoughts come
from layering and jumbling smaller ideas. Choose pens that are ballpoint, perhaps a little clawlike.

To make our nest we must fetch some twigs, decorate them Choose books that are fine to have a bit of careless treatment.
with some sentences, collect them into a nice useful mess, Place the books on the floor in stacks of 2-3 in every corner
then read them. And this is how. and nook of the play area, but far from the nests.

A low table which everyone can reach is a marvelous spot for

we’ll need a nest. Decide exactly where on the table the dinner-plate-
a couple dozen books, sized nest will be.
about 8 strips of paper per player,
and one pen per crow. If there are more than 5 players, we’ll make a nesting ground
of several nests, each on a little or large table, not far from one
another, but with enough room for crows to gather at each.

Scatter the as-yet-unworded twigs in the middle of the floor,

between the nests and the books, right underfoot where twigs
can always be found.

Read all the rules aloud for part 1 and part 2, then do the
warmups together, then play. There’s no break between parts.
Crowetry
part 1; twigs
nest reading

to be crows
Each player will make their body into a crow body. But how?

Hands are wings, mouth is beak, but hands are also claw feet and
fingers can be beak, held pen can be claw - a crow is a confusing
thing up close, but it’s not confusing to be, each player will move
their beak & wings & claws around and observers will figure it
out or not.

As crows, soar. Flap, caw to one another. Hop on the ground.

Use claws or beak to move things. Look quizzically at sentences.
Behave similarly to the other crows.

gather twigs
Alight on the ground and choose a plain looking twig and take
it in your beak. Hop to a good place to take off from, and soar!
You’re looking for a book to drag that twig though, something
to get some good words on it.

Land somewhere. Look around. Listen. Hop over to a book, open

it with your beak, hold it down with a claw as you scan for a
nice sentence. Any fragment, any bit of language that grabs you
& you want to read aloud.

With your claw, inscribe the sentence on the twig, nice and big
and clear so other crows can read it. If the sentence is short, leave
space on both ends of the twig. If the sentence is too long, just
use part of it. Make sure the words on the twig don’t wrap to
two lines, keep them all in one row.

And then we return with our marvelous twigs, dropping them

in the place we’ll make our nest, perhaps cawing support to one
another as we fly off to gather more.

We won’t use all the twigs. There are so many twigs in the world,
the very notion is ridiculous. Leave some be.

part 1 ends
gradually, for each crow in its own time, when they feel they
have gathered enough sentences and they wish to begin reading,
or perhaps when a nestmate has started the reading and this crow
feels their curiosity rising.
Crowetry
part 2; nest
nest reading

the weaving
Begin to weave the twigs over and under one another with
beak and claw. Keep the nest a general jumble, not squarish,
with lots of overlap. Indeed, arrange twigs so that a word
from one twig sits directly over a word from another twig
at some bizarre angle.

There is no competition here. The nest is made together.

the reading
As crows, speak. Read what is seen. Muddle overlapping
sentences together to make new sentences from contiguous
words. Read fragments. Repeat what other crows say,
because of the sound, or the meaning, or because you want
the taste of the words on your tongue. This is how we get
new thoughts, by reading the nest.

keep weaving
Peck at the twigs, claw them carefully into new places.
Move the nest around to show new combinations. If there’s
a twig in the nest with words you don’t like, just pull it out
with your beak and throw it away.

part 2 ends
gradually. When you, crow, feel satisfied with reading the
nest, fold your wings and fall to silence. Eventually all the
crows will quieten and the game will be over.
 beginning with bodies
Stand in a circle, stand right on top of the twigs. They’re always underfoot. Crowetry
nest reading

the
Elect someone to lead the group in a few stretches, and follow their lead.

start
Then shake yourselves, ruffling your invisible feathers.

Now stretch your arms out as wide as you can, showing your wingspan.

Break from the circle to practice soaring…

Then, as your body allows, practice hopping…

And then open your beak and practice cawing!

starting
When all that is done, choose which nest your crow will be part of: each will have
2-5 crows. Let’s gather at nests now. Crows don’t have names because it’s safer to
go without. But they know their nestmates and neighbors very well, so caw some
hellos if you like.

Now everyone fall to silence and fold your wings. Let the silence sit with you.
Then everyone at once, flap your wings and open your beaks and caw to one
another in celebration of the nests you’re about to make!

Take off! Go gather twigs!

Crowetry- nest reading

by Jackson Tegu
October 2019
Olympia / Bus-chut-hwud
Photos by Jackson

Played by Rick Dean, Raph D’Amico, Josh LB, Julia Gentlestrength Parsons, Amanda Zavala, Sarajane Clark, Nick L-R,
Jana McKinley, Tavia Parrington, Sythana Winterthorn, Orion Canning, and Sady Sparks.

Special thanks to Amber, Ariel, Caroline, Marc, Laurence, Gavin, Ziggy, Brookelle, Jana, Tavia, Rob, Sky, Jeremy,
Meredith, Daniel, David, Marina, Colleen, J-Rainbow, Josh, Grapes,Ymr, A*, Seraph, Miri, Agnes, Bea, Willa, Arielle,
Emily, Albert, Christine, Robert, Gary, Jonny B, and Jonathan Walton with the special corvid double-wink.

My kind patrons include Adam the Mender, It’s the little things, A*, Bay, Sandbank Diner, Bryant ‘Dante’ Stone,
Camilla, Charlie X, Chris Angelini, Her Eminence Corrin Elizabeth, Devon Breithart Bazaar Returner,Vice Telepath
Eric Fattig, Evan Silberman, Fred Lott, Madu, Greg Sanders, Harry Lee, Engulfed in James, Jamie ‘Jamie’ Fristrom,
Jason Wodicka, Jay Loomis, Rainbow the Spectromancer, Joe Beason, John geary, John Powell, Jon Bristow, Jon ‘Van’
Robertson, Jonathan Jung Johansen, J. Walton, Josh Laison, Josh T Jordan, June & Mike Garcia, Marcus Hawaiianus,
Karen Twelves, Kythryn Hymys, The Fuzziest Kitty, A Second Brief Catapult, Laurel Halbany, Lester Ward, Lyndsay the
Employee of the Month at the Selfie Factory, Matthew Klein, Matthew Sullivan-Barrett, Mai-kun, Max Saltonstall,
Galactic Impersonator Noam Rosen, Literally Patrick Brannick, Prettyboy Paul and the Barrel Gulch Gang, Paul K,
Phil ‘Wiseacre’ Hanley, Rachel Comicbookeater, Rick Dean, BB-8, Satora, Sean Nittner, Shervyn, Sildoenfein, Stras
‘Consulting Designer’ Acimovic, The Fifth World,Vanessa Geekgirl, The Wylde Sage of Venn,Vincent Baker, Walter
German, William deMoniker, The Indisputable Will, and Admiral Yoshi of the Forever Dodecahedron!
photographsoflightning.com • patreon.com/jacksontegu