Five miles beyond the Wilderness Boundary sign
a chipmunk slinks
through the lakeside rootscape
: haunches to
hideout to
sneak up
& chew through
the thin plastic
that guards the peanuts
I schlepped
from civilization
where foraging is leisure
—if I drop my vigil
to watch a bufflehead splash down;
if the flick that shoos a crow
scares off a chickadee;
if I unravel
the twist-tie
& offer the chipmunk a palm
-ful of fat & salt,
what else will I have ruined?
