Perilous Joy
by Mathew Paust
If I could see his smile I would see its difference
from the one that brightens his face
when his claws through the frozen ground
reach the pecan he'd buried in fall
I would see its difference from his smirk
inches from the snapping jaws of the pit bull
at the end of its chain
I would see its contrast from his poker face
as, clinging to bark, he circumvents the tree
keeping just out of sight of the boy
chasing him 'round and 'round
I imagine the triumph radiating now as he sits
equidistant from the ends of the wire over the street
bush tail beside him his closest comfort next to the genes
that gave him the fearless balance permitting the joi de vivre
He flashes at me through the windshield
passing beneath
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Author's Note
Driving down Gloucester's Main Street the other day, I thought it was odd that a surveillance camera had been attached to the high tension wire overhead. I slowed and peered up, and saw a squirrel watching the random motorized parade from his lofty perch.
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*, Mathew. I love the imagery here.
Beautifully said.
Thanks, David and Erika. I wish I'd been walking, and with my camera. That guy looked so proud up there.
Lovely.
Thanks, Gary.
"I imagine the triumph radiating"
Your poem is a camera. I can see that here.
Thanks, Bill.
Vivid, sharp. Good poem.
Thanks, Sam.
Way fine piece, Mathew. Liked the ending cap:"He flashes at me through the windshield/passing beneath"
Love this. I have a Facebook friend who is a wildlife rehabilitator--mostly squirrels--and she has forever changed the way I think of them.
Lovely observation, well described.
Thank you kindly, Ed and Dianne.
Good stuff
*
Ray, m'man!
*Thank you for the title, the words, the squirrel, (who I feel I now know) and for having the impulse to write this.
You captured it, Matt!
Thank you, Nonnie and Kitty.