Hi Mike,
I really enjoyed this, and I don't think there's a lot I can add to what
Christina has suggested. I wondered whether in the last verse you could lose
the line "as winter stores which they donīt always find"? I just thought it
spelt out the connection with the sunflowers a bit too much. I loved the
last four lines though.
Regards,
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Mike Horwood
Sent: 20 October 2004 13:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New sub: Red squirrels
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Red Suirrels
And they have driven away the crows.
(`Squirrelsī by Sujata Bhatt)
These squirrels have a different relationship
with birds. They crack their eggs, claw
the shells apart and suck yolk,
but the adult birds harass them at every
opportunity, though only during nest building
and incubation. The squirrels retreat
before the birdsī clattering assault
but they have no fear. I have wondered
if the squirrels take the chicks
and conclude not since hostilities subside
about the time hatching takes place.
The birds chase and the squirrels run.
It could almost be a game, but lifeīs the prize.
Sujata, my squirrels also chase each other
round and round the trunk of a tree.
Itīs not as meaningful as anger,
not so directed as lust. Iīve seen them touch.
Nor do they leave damage behind them.
Though their claws catch and hold
the bark unerringly, they do not tear.
They will run the length of higher branches
that bend at their slim ends under squirrel weight,
launch without hesitation into the next tree,
sink with the sinking limb
they have caught, twist, upside down
and drop to the next branch.
There are times when I watch their progress
through the trees, when only the succession
of shaking leaves marks their passage.
Or they dart across the open grass, stop,
stand on their back legs and stare.
Their eyes are large and their snouts
blunt, ugly and beautiful at once.
These squirrels steal the nuts and seeds
we put out for the birds and bury them
as winter stores which they donīt always find.
In spring sunflowers shoot up
in the middle of our lawn and the early sun
can draw the bees out too soon
to die beneath the hedge.
Mike
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