Without direction
or purpose
still seeking in zig-zag
up and down
behind and below
the treasures its kin
might have hidden
in autumn,
the young squirrel
with its tail a primary pride
all of the sudden
make up its mind
to jump through the air
for a branch
extended to meet
the squirrel’s whim
to keep seeking
elsewhere for the invisible
riches it needs before
it may mate.
Ding Yanyong
Today Lisa hosts at dVerse and invites us to write about animals, or rager chose between:
1) Choose any animal and consider its nature and write a poem about the animal;
2) Choose a particular attribute of an animal and write a poem that is about the animal but also an attribute that humans exhibit, similar to some of the above poems;
3) Create your own myth or fable involving animals.
For me, my poem probably fitted the first option the best.
April 4, 2023
Björn Rudbergs writings 
You captured the squirrel’s nature so well with the frenetic energy and “its tail a primary pride.” Those little buggers are running wild around here right now. I also saw two robins who looked like they were hop-dancing when I got home a few minutes ago.
They do have a lot of energy
You’ve captured the essence of squirrel and instilled it in your poem, Björn – it’s all in the movement!
They seem to be in constant movement
there are grey squirrels who visit my garden regularly and I can see their acrobatics in you poem.
Love that image your chose to illustrate your poem. You did a great job of getting the squirrel’s twitchy hunting into your poem.
I absolutely love, love this! You depict the nature of the squirrel with such finesse, Bjorn! ❤️❤️
there is road i drive down where it is swarming with squirrels and so I drive very carefully on that road, for them.
You have captured the energy of the squirrel well. My first siting of a squirrel was while on vacation in New York many years ago
Much💜love
A great picture in words. Squirrels don’t miss anything and they cover a lot of territory!
Essence of squirrel!
That is the essence of the little squirrel right there Björn💕
This sounds very human, much like young adults trying to get what they can get before they start their new lives. This is an excellent piece. You’re so talented.
all of the sudden
make up its mind
to jump through the air
Love this Bjorn! You captured the very essence of their movements – very abrupt and very quick! It is all competitive advantage, to get there first before the other fella.
Hank
Are your squirrels red squirrels? If they are, I hope you keep the others out. I love watching them, and yes, when they’re not showing off in the trees, they’re running back and forth as if they’ve forgotten something important.
We don’t have any other squirrels than the red ones… thankfully, and they are all around in our garden of trees, especially since we have both hazel and oak….
I hope you can keep them out. Apparently pine martens can deal with the grey squirrels very effectively. They don’t bother red squirrels. In the UK they could have let pine martens control the grey squirrel population, except that they had already largely exterminated the martens before the grey squirrel arrived…
So far Sweden is free from them… I hope it stays that way
Me too.
Excellent piece Björn, about a fascinating creature. They used to rob my bird feeder, no matter how or where I mounted it. Clever little thieves! I stopped them finally!! Of course to do so, I stopped feeding the birds… oh well, flimsy victory… 🫤✌🏼
You’ve got the squirrel nailed here!
PS: my college friend grew up in a rural Illinois town called Olney and it billed itself as the “home of the white squirrel” – and there were white squirrels there!
I love watching squirrels scamper all around our back yard, jump from limb to limb in 60ft tall pines! Your poetry is a delightful look close-up too.
Squirrels are fun to watch, always in motion. I was watching tourists in the park yesterday trying to lure them close for photo ops–some of them are quite tame as a result. (K)