 |
| street art, Richmond, VA |
skitterSkitterSkitterskitter
grey squirrel skittering back
& forth across a small spot
of the black hard top in front
of my car, scared & unsure
between ~ between
SQUISH
barely a bump & it's over
in my rear view mirror i watch
the body writhe a-round a-head
now flat, of the snake that was
coiling to strike. a dash of grey
disappears in the roadside green
& these are the choices we make,
must live with, when freedom
is at stake---for all our tomorrows
& another day
written for Carry on Tuesday
Posts
63 comments:
Yeah, I'm first!
Oh, I'm sorry your day started like this, but I really like the metaphor here.
A delightful read on the prompt with words of wisdom at the end.
Yes, How can we avoid life's choices. Clever way of putting it all across. It's one or the other and at every step along the way someone will try to hustle us! Great write Brian!
Hank
Yeah avoid a chance
By taking a stance
Or giving it a glance
And around it we prance
That isn't the way to be
But some days it happens at each and every sea
No tomorrows for that snake, I'd say. My resident black squirrel is busy making a nest, stealing stuff from my planter and tearing off the covers of chairs... Wouldn't mind keeping HER tomorrows limited. But of course I won't. :-)
Yikes...life and death in a flash. Poor snake, lucky squirrel, lived to see another day. Sad when you see any type of road kill. As soon as spring arrives we start to see the coons, foxes and skunks all hit.
Great to see you on C.O.T Brian :)
Sometimes life's freedoms leave us with difficult choices to make indeed. Glad you saved the squirrel!
interesting imagery...it really hits home...tomorrow is only another day if we don't get hit by a car today...our tomorrows always depend on our todays...
Oh, poor squirrel...it always leaves me feeling sick to have taken out one of God's creatures. I feel that SAME kinda sick with the daily freedoms we are given that I screw up!
I appreciate choices, especially when the snakes are flattened.
This one I don't get. I thought at first you ran over the squirrel. Then I thought a snake ate it. I have no idea how freedom fits in there.
An interesting play on life and death choices ~ The actions we make today, makes a lot of difference in our tomorrows ~
Happy Monday to you ~
Since I like neither squirrels or snakes...the better choice environmentally would be the squirrel. Don't you just love bloggers who are unafraid to put in their one cent?
I hope that the choice of maintaining freedom doesn't come at the cost of lives. There is no freedom in that choice.
actually i love it when people express their opinions tabor....i am all for it....smiles.
alice, i did kill the snake and the squirrel got away...the flash of grey disappearing in the green...sorry that was not clear...
while all a real situation it brought a few things to mind:
1. slam on on the breaks and let nature take its course, but risk your own life and those in the car behind you.
2. swerve and hope to miss and possibly endanger yourself
3. hit the snake and take out the aggressor
4. hit the squirrel and give the snake a free meal
we have a split second at times to make these decisions. did i make the right one, i may never know...but you have to make one of the above and hope for the best.
What an interesting way to put it :)
Sometimes it's hard to make a choice.
Gritty -well written.
Oh gosh, sounds like my experience. Wish mine was a squirrel though-not that I want any animal to have gotten killed!
:(
I like the message in the poem. And I enjoyed the discussion that followed. I have that decision to make often with rabbits on the road. I always feel awful if I hit one. The choices you give are so valid, and, of course, life is made of choices, but I do hate the ones we have to make in an instant.
Have a good day Brian.
I'd say "Save the Squirrels" except that one chewed a hole in my roof a couple of years ago and ruined the whole ceiling in the kitchen.
Haven't felt the same way about them since...
;)
Love the sound words you used, really added an aural sense to the piece. Fantastic metaphor, but yeah, I've been in spot like this once or twice and it always fills the pit of my stomach in a terrible way. Glad you could use that as material for this excellent piece. Thanks
Aw, that poor little squirrel! I do love the metaphorical thought you wove within the ending. And that "squish", phew, I kinda cringed! :P
Choices are made..some easy enough to do and some extremely difficult. To face the choices..is a brave thing.
Hugging you
SueAnn
Our tomorrows are always conditional upon our today...Choices hard to make...this was the right one, I think (easy for me to say, I'm not the snake;-)
forge ahead like a bull in the china shop, sometimes that is the only approach to life, nice one
that is one way to get rid of the squirrel.
ewe..... Poor squirrel.
That would be hard, Brian. I'd live with that memory a long, long time.
I hate squirrels. One down, billions to go. :)
Love this one, the title is really superb.
Hmmmmm - choices ----- poor squirrel - and good for the snake! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr snakes. God bless you Brian - that was a brutally honest poem - eeeeeeek - and again - poor squirrel!
we do get days like this Brian, its called the good with the bad, hope it improved..
Stuff like this is always happening to you, bri--well written out in expressing lots of open endedness really in how one makes a lesser of two evils choice. I once was walking down a median in my park maintenance days and had a squirrel run away from me in terror, shooting himself directly under an oncoming car. Was I responsible? I felt that way, but squirrels are also not very bright.
Brian, did you say written for "Carrion Tuesday" at the end? (smiles)
I never expected a take like yours when I set the prompt! It's brilliantly different. Thanks for supporting our re-born Carry On Tuesday.
is your metaphor really a choice? depends on the speed you are driving and the other cars/pedestrians/bikers around you.
shocking how it is indeed barely a bump. Although running over a pheasant broke my car radiator of the car I was test driving! I had to declare it for insurance so drew a walking pheasant on the declaration form and added a feather.
I avoid hitting anything in the road and have guilt issues if the unavoidable occurs...takng time to visit my faves before I have to get the foot above my heart again...I've missed all of you these past weeks!
Sandi
So much in these few lines Brian. I am so bad at decision making - but sometimes the moment demands a choice.
OMG Is difficult but is true Brian!
Sometimes we havent options:(
not always easy to make these choices... i feel a bit like that squirrel.. between - between... ha... sorry so late, had a business dinner and just coming home..
The older I get the more choices seem to be 49/51. No one said it would be easy, darn it! Poor snake - just trying to get an honest supper. Poor squirrel - always afraid for its life.
Okay, now you've thoroughly depressed me!
Nice take on the prompt. Cool metaphor.
Nice take on the prompt. Cool metaphor.
Nice to see you at C.O.T. Mr Keith is a good friend of ours. Which reminds me, I haven't written a COT for ages. Keep up the good work.
Oh my! I was afraid the squirrel met his end but glad to see it was the snake.
Choices? Sometimes we are given none.
Enjoyed all the commentary!
another Miller masterpiece, well done, and nice twist
oh man, how is it you see such profundity in these moments? a hard start to the day, both for you and for the squirrel, but you did what we all need to do in hardships, and you learned from it. a clever and catchy write, brian! e.
I hit a coyote yesterday ... caplonk ... I felt the thump underneath the car, looked in the rear view mirror, saw him flying, then laying still ... I just kept going ... feeling like a warrior princess or something ... thinking: Too bad ... and "thanks" for for killing my newborn calf the other day ... end of story ... life goes on ... mmmh?
curious perspective, "these are the choices we make/must live with"... can't be avoided. I enjoyed your poem :-)
life begins, life ends - change-form day for the squirrel - barely a bump and it's over is such a strong line.
You had to make a choice, the squirrel had the same option. It could have gone either way, a bit like some of the choices I've made in my time. But I had the choice!
*shrug* One of 'em was going to be food...
There is nothing like the sound of running over an animal. I ran over a raccoon once - yuk!
Like they say....one day you're the windshield.....one day you're the bug.
"barely a bump & it's over" ... Such is life, trouble, error, favor. It's all small in the scheme.
Decisions, decisions...I think you made the right one.
Yes, the choices that we make and the next day having to live with them. Your so right.
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/2012/05/another-impossible-day.html
You always make me think. Was there ever really a choice, or are things just meant to be what they are?
Ugh--hard choices, man. I would have felt bad about either critter.
oooh ouch, the squirrel made it.
lots of choices, everyday
Yes, we try don't we daily to not become mere roadkill...flopping with the motion of life but empty of true real life and meaning. Great poem, Brian!
I would like this photo on the wall in my apartment.
Post a Comment