For the Chipmunk in My Yard

I think he knows I’m alive, having come down

The three steps of the back porch

And given me a good once over. All afternoon

He’s been moving back and forth,

Gathering odd bits of walnut shells and twigs,

While all about him the great fields tumble

To the blades of the thresher. He’s lucky

To be where he is, wild with all that happens.

He’s lucky he’s not one of the shadows

Living in the blond heart of the wheat.

This autumn when trees bolt, dark with the fires

Of starlight, he’ll curl among their roots,

Wanting nothing but the slow burn of matter

On which he fastens like a small, brown flame.

-Robert Gibb

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Citations:

Crizelini, Capitan. “Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis) Hanging Upside down from a Tree with Hazelnut in Its Mouth. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North America.” Shutterstock , Shutterstock Ink, https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eastern-gray-squirrel-sciurus-carolinensis-hanging-1 16032708. Accessed 3 Oct. 2022.

Photo:

Gibb, Robert. “For the Chipmunk in My Yard.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53932/for-the-chipmunk-in-my-yard.