Did you know that the U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-06) lives in Garland, a little town about eight miles from here? I bet you didn’t. (Beth, you don’t count.)
Our little once-weekly newspaper has a little poetry section in it that Ted Kooser (Mr. Laureate to you) ‘hosts’ He picks two poems from all ’round the nation and prints them, with permission. I don’t have permission and I’m doing it anyway. There have been a couple that I regret not keeping, because now my feeble memory can’t even remember what they were about – just that they were awesome.
I’ll reprint “Catching the Moles” by Judith Kitchen:
First we tamp down the ridges that criss-cross the yard
then wait for the ground to move again.
I hold the shoe box, you, the trowel.
When I give you the signal you dig in behind
and flip forward. Out he pops into daylight,
blind velvet.
We nudge him into the box, carry him down the hill.
Four times we’ve done it. The children worry.
Have we let them all go at the very same spot?
Will they find each other? We can’t be sure ourselves,
only just beginning to learn the fragile rules of uprooting.
That poem makes me sad…poor little moles… And now I, too, worry that they have all been released in the same place and can find eachother…poor little moles…
Ahhh, love a story about relocating cute furry animals (Brad). We once relocated a squirrel family that was in our attic (instead of bagging them & smashing them into the wall–Brad). We put them all in the same box so we knew they were together. I’m sure the moles are living happily ever after, all together! (they have great noses)
Moles are horrible pests and should be eliminated! I would probably choose poison for that occasion. Or Cricket. She kills moles, doesn’t she, Lauren? Yes, I know your dirty secret. You try to sound empathetic toward moles, but your cat KILLS them!
No, no, no – voles. Cricket kills voles. They’re like tiny little moles – mouse-sized. Don’t bother fact-checking it. I’m totally right.
I hope a giant mole eats you! (or you wake up with a giant, hairy, bleeding mole on your face!)
That’s for Brad, right? I post only kindly poems about the pitiful moles. Cricket is the killer in our household. Cricket.
Yes, comment for Brad!