Let Them Try

Another poem about writing, the concentration it demands ... and the distractions which intrude, especially if the writing is being done in an attic room -- er, studio -- and the squirrels are playing games overhead.

Before we had our maple trees trimmed, our roof seemed to be a favorite gathering spot for those rascals.

It sounded like they were having squirrel conventions up there, or the Squirrel Olympics, maybe even doing some line dancing, although I couldn't hear the music, just those little feet, back and forth, back and forth ... back and forth ...

Oh, there were moments of quiet ... I suppose while they were choosing up sides again ... plotting their next moves. During these suspenseful moments I could get a few words written. Then the commotion resumed.

As I recall, my first draft, instead of talking about "teeny-tiny feet," said something about "obnoxious little feet," but I mellowed a bit after that.

In the quiet that followed the trimming of those overhanging limbs, I guess mellowing was to be expected.

Oh, and I purposely kept the lines short ... in order to underscore the tension of writing under such pressure.

The poem:

LET THEM TRY

Squirrels go

trickling across

my green roof

while I write,

trying to break

my concentration.

Hah! Let them

try. I am so

focused not even

booming thunder

could faze me;

certainly not

this constant

pitter-patter,

pitter-patter,

pitter-patter,

pit of their

teeny-tiny feet.

© 2001

(originally published in St. Anthony Messenger)

***

Today's word: pitter-patter

Afterthoughts ... in response to your comments:

Happy feet! Hey, I like the sound of that, Featheredpines. Maybe I should look at it that way ... put some of that rhythm into my poetry ... maybe I already am doing that ... subconsciously. Maybe that's been their agenda all along. Why, those rascals!