October is Squirrel Awareness Month. And what you might ask have squirrels to do with poetry? Let me make you aware.
“Birdfeeders” / by Sammy the Squirrel
With no apologies to that Kilmer [6]guy
I think that I shall never spy
A birdfeeder as smart as I
When my hungry jaws are prest
Amid its luscious seedy best.
Anyone peepin’ out the window today
Isn’t fast enough to scare me away.
For a nest of robins I don’t care
I’m the smartest scrounger here.
Let ‘um squawk and let ‘um rant
Try to get rid of me – they can’t.
Maybe only God can make a tree,
But birdfeeders were made for me!
[12] Nuts to You! [13] / Lois Ehlert
Gives a young child’s response to an urban squirrel break-in to the child’s apartment, and also supplies prose text to teach about squirrels and gardening.
[14] An interesting variation on squirrel poetry is Last Song: A Poem [15]/ by James Guthrie; illustrated by Eric Rohmann
The squirrels, which do not appear in the poem, are used to visually turn Guthrie’s short serenade to the sun, moon, and stars into a picture book with a colorful and delight filled nest of romping tree squirrels by Rohmann, who has a talent for turning short texts into stories,.
Interestingly, squirrels, alive and dead also appear in this pair of graveside meditations, “At Thomas Merton’s Grave [19]” by Spencer Reece and “Faith [20]” by Judy Loest.
On a much lighter note, Naomi Shihab Nye [21], in her poem “Yellow Glove [22]," gives important parental advise for placing squirrels in their final resting place, "Don’t kiss the squirrel before you bury him."
Links:
[1] http://www.hcpl.net/sites/default/files/Squirrel in a circle.jpg
[2] http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/sciucaro.htm
[3] http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/glauvola.htm
[4] http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/sciunige.htm
[5] http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/spertrid.htm
[6] http://www.bartleby.com/104/119.html
[7] http://www.syndetics.com/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=0374380570/LC.GIF&client=harrisp&upc=&oclc=
[8] http://www.syndetics.com/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=9780374314293/LC.GIF&client=harrisp&upc=&oclc=
[9] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=Animal%20Poems%20Valerie%20Worth&index=.GH
[10] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=Collected%20Poems%20Children%20Ted%20Hughes&index=.GH
[11] http://media.us.macmillan.com/teachersguides/9780374380571TG.pdf
[12] http://www.syndetics.com/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=9780152576479/LC.GIF&client=harrisp&upc=&oclc=
[13] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=nuts%20you%20Ehlert&index=.GH
[14] http://www.syndetics.com/index.aspx?type=xw12&isbn=9781596435087/LC.GIF&client=harrisp&upc=&oclc=
[15] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=Last%20song%20James%20Guthrie%20poem%20NOT%20American&index=.GH
[16] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173966
[17] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=180217
[18] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=176977
[19] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=237490
[20] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=237286
[21] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=Nye,%20Naomi%20Shihab&index=.AH
[22] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178322
[23] http://www.hcpl.net/sites/default/files/October is Squirrel Awareness Month_2.jpg
[24] http://www.hcpl.net/taxonomy/term/35
[25] http://www.hcpl.net/category/tags/squirrels