Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop: Woodland Creatures Edition

Mama Kat is making me write poetry again. I think it’s punishment for when I accused her of stalking me last week.

2.) Write a poem for your furry friend.

Ah, but which furry friend? Could I write an elegy for Rose, the greatest dog of all time? Should I write about my obese cat and her penchant for licking C’s wet bath toys after we drain the tub? No. No, I want to write about my new furry friends. The ones I’ve met since moving to the suburbs after 5 years in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in DC.

In the big city beneath the Capitol Dome
Fur flies.
Rat fur.
Un-cuddly, dirty, mean. City critters abound.

But follow me, now, to the cool green land outside the city,
The haven away from concrete and marble.
Follow and meet them.

See the squirrel wrapped in a torrid embrace
with the feeder meant for the birds.

See the nose-twitching bunneh
Hiding in the shade of the lawn.

See the quiet doe
Eating my neighbor’s shrubbery.
(Ha! Glad I’m not the one cleaning deer poop off my lawn!)

And see my son’s shining eyes
As he greets the squirrel, the bunneh, the doe
As friends and neighbors.