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?