Rodent (Notevember 2020, #6)

Rustle Square

Acorns. Scorned by humans
Pinecones, too
Wasteful, wasteful
With things that are tasteful
Prized by squirrelkind
Brought from branch and breached
Or gained from ground and gnawed
RUSTLE!
Where? Where?
There! Oh, just a bird

Where was I?
Yes, two-leggers and their strange ways
Some days I find them staring at me
Baring their teeth in odd ways
Not like a threat
Not dog-growl-teeth
Horrid, sharp
Maybe affection?

Then again, they show affection to all sorts of things
Cats and birds and dogs and other humans
And feed them, too! All of them!
Some of them even feed us, you see
But you never know
The other day I took some seeds
from that little wooden nest they put on a pole
Took, found, stole
All the same
But, no! The leggers chased me away
Angry – what for?
CAT! HIDE oh it’s on a string
They put cats on strings?
Poor things (no not really awful awful creatures)
Now then… Right, angry, right?
But then the other night
I skip their seed-box, and grab an egg from a robin’s nest
And you should have seen the commotion!
No to eggs I fetch myself and no to seeds on humans’ shelf
Incensed. No sense, any of them
Best bury these oaky nuggets before they prohibit them, too
Along with spruce fruits
Can’t be too careful these–
DOG! RUN!