Welcome to another Poetry Friday! We are hosted today by Linda at TeacherDance. Make sure to stop and see what poetic intrigue she is up to.
This has been another horrible week in the national news and I fear for my Asian friends and family members. How can they not feel threatened by the racial violence that is taking place, it seem, all over the country? Meanwhile the pandemic will continue for a while. I’m sure, like me, many turn to nature for some solace.
This week while walking down a street I began to notice the squirrels’ nests in the highest branches of trees. They are uncovered in the winter because leaves have fallen. They inspired a poem that I will share, but first, I discovered this poem by Amos Russel Wells who was born in Glen’s Falls, N.Y., during the Civil War. I thought his poem was charming.
To A City-Park Squirrel by Amos Russel Wells Dear little exile from woodlands dear, How can you keep your wilderness grace, How can you bound so merrily here, Shut in this narrow and formal place? Still your fancies are forest-free, Still as gallant you swing and glide From dusty tree to skeleton tree As once you roamed through the woodlands wide. Surely you must, on a witching night, Flee from the prisoning haunts of men, Over the housetops take your flight, And bathe yourself in the woods again!
It’s easy to imagine this squirrel taking flight! (Actually, I wouldn’t mind fleeing into a city, like New York, to satisfy my pandemic travel fever.) Anyway, the poem resonated with me because as I looked at the squirrels’ nests this week on my street, I began to imagine they lived in high rises. This isn’t the first time these furry and common creatures have showed up in my writing.
SQUIRREL HIGH RISE Two round cozy nests of twigs and leaves in the highest branches of a tall tall tree, hovering over the hills and town— like fancy penthouse apartments. There is not one window, none at all, or an elevator in the hall. And squirrels don’t pay even the smallest fee for a cozy apartment in a high rise tree. © Janice Scully 2021
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and enjoy the early spring. Thank you again, Linda, for hosting.