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Posts Tagged ‘descrimination’

Unlikely Saint

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on July 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »


                  after Muriel Rukeyser
 
 
Because two years ago, 
another chipmunk ate all our birdseed;
because that same chipmunk 
ate all sixty of my sunflower sprouts—
munched the entire row to the ground;
because that same chipmunk
devoured every bright-faced pansy;
because some part of me believes
that what I have planted should grow
for my pleasure and not for yours;
for this, I have decided to despise you, 
little chipmunk that took up residency
last week beneath my porch. 
I see you dart across the boards,
cheeks full of something, 
then empty-cheeked running the other way. 
You leap up onto my window sash to watch me
in my rooms. You scurry into the shadows.
Scowling, I point you out to my daughter. 
She says, Oh, how cute! I think, Cute?
What? Little vermin isn’t cute. 
Except you are. Except your soft, pocket-sized body
and small rounded ears are the actual definition 
of cute. Except when I watch you stand straight-spined
on your back legs, front paws held at your chest 
as if in prayer, little St. Chipmunk, I soften. 
Except when I see your cheeks bulging 
five times their normal size stuffed with seeds, 
I laugh out loud. In my eagerness to revile you,
I had let myself not see you. I wasn’t interested
in your survival, your story. I wanted only to erase, 
to other. To see you beyond what I expect to see 
is the sort of transformation that could not have happened 
if I were alone. Generosity is how we save each other. 
How long would I have gone on in my clenching? 
The taste of conceit is bitter. 
I had filled my cheeks with it. How sweet it is now, 
added to the mix, the taste of curiosity. 

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