Suet

The gray squirrel

hangs from her back paws

from the two-sided feeder

furls her torso inward to raise

front paws & mouth, snares

a chunk, floats full length —

meal in paws — to eat it.

Now from front paws

she lolls, her tail a body length

below. I suppose she’ll eat

one whole slab if no one stops her —

not the blue jay watching

from the cast-iron swoop holding

the hummingbird feeder

not two doves pacing the deck

for loot she drops

not even two blue jays, a red
squirrel, more doves.

— 30 June 2013