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Success Smells Awfully Good
by Kristina WoodhillThe skunk,
For the time being,
Has been waylaid,
Stopped
In its oh, so confident tracks,
Tippy toeing into
Our corn patch
When the sun's back was turned
You! skunk,
Telling the moon earlier,
Lies brushed as broadly
As your bushy two-faced tail,
About:
Just taking a short stroll
To stretch your legs,
Dancing by the light of,
While crickets fiddle,
Sex maddened and manic
Oh, mama, won't you meet me,
Meet me by the mullen;
We'll spoon beneath
Its huge, soft leaves
And tap our wedding tune.
Young ears of corn,
Coverlets yet tightly held
Listen and learn
Kernels of knowledge
Swelling in July's heat;
Two weeks prior,
Skunk, you shimmied close
To the man's first planted stalks,
Pulled an ear down, then its cousin,
An impotent inspection
Finding nothing more
Than row upon row
Of pale reflections,
Promise upon promise
Oh, mama, won't you meet me,
Greet me like that ole night hawk,
Feather stroke my aging cheek
So softly we will croon
I'll not surprise you if I state
Humans revere a good ear,
Wasted not on the ground,
Wanted husky and full bodied
By this melted-butter tribe;
Ben Franklin's genius helped
Fly many a keyed-up kite,
Strung to save even our small patch
Before the next skunk shimmy
And the next pulled ear;
Zip! Zap! plug in the low fence
I call it ground lightning
I call it a perfect storm upon demand
Oh, mama, won't you meet me,
Meet me where the ash tree sways;
Owl will lend his sharp ole eyes,
We'll two step while he “whoooos”
A skunk, surprised,
Does not yell or bark or tell the world
In loud piratic phrasings
How the big one got away,
How sizzling wires kept him at bay,
How the night sparked
And nipped skunk's nose,
Ran its tingling tongue all along
Skunk's startled spine;
I, here opine, and claim
A soil toiler's odd enjoyment
In the foulest midnight smell;
Surely, breeze, you float it by
My open dozing window
And beyond, for all to share,
Our fenced
Success
08/04/2014 Author's Note: Just to reassure others with Linda Fuller's concern. The electric fence is not to kill and doesn't harm small animals like skunks or cats, etc. It's a zap when they touch it to keep them away from a fenced area.
Posted on 08/05/2014
Copyright © 2024 Kristina Woodhill
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 08/05/14 at 01:39 PM I love it Kristina!! Really cute. |
| Posted by A. Paige White on 08/05/14 at 07:41 PM Brilliant! Got to be my pick today! You might enjoy this too... Til the cows come home... ;-}
http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/26197920/farmer-plays-trombone-til-the-cows-come-home?clienttype=generic |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 08/06/14 at 01:45 PM Captivating story poem, Kristina. Love the skunk angle...refreshingly different. Has a bit of native flair also in its expression of human and animal nature. |
| Posted by Matthew Sharp on 08/06/14 at 08:16 PM A skunk walked right up next to me in my backyard a few days ago, it took a lot to not panic in an offensive tone... i wanted to reach down and pet it, but it had other things to do:)
nice poem kristina:)
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| Posted by Ken Harnisch on 08/06/14 at 09:22 PM What a damned delightful piece of work Kristina!
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| Posted by Linda Fuller on 08/07/14 at 10:06 PM Richly playful - please tell me the skunk didn't die... |
| Posted by Bertram Sparagmos on 08/08/14 at 05:48 PM This really gives a direct IV of happy, and as I imagine that was the point, this comes together as a well-actualized work. That's good. I needed a shot of yay. |
| Posted by Laura Doom on 08/16/14 at 11:35 AM Not having lived in skunkland, I now feel quite envious. In this oppressive urban environment, most unpleasant smells are generated by human behaviour...
Husky and full-bodied, your seed, our harvest--a pleasure. |
| Posted by Glenn Currier on 08/19/14 at 04:16 PM Living in a suburb we occasionally are blessed by their silent but pungent passage. Although I would not love being sprayed, I do get a little smile on my face knowing that something of the wild still persists where I live. I got into the skunk inspecting the corn, appraising its fullness, the symbiotic relationship of animal and the plant. And the last three words are brilliant. Thanks Kristina. This is brilliant. |
| Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 08/19/14 at 04:53 PM Kristina, this is a lovely, lovely ode, and I love the Oh Mama refrains and you will pardon me, if like Linda am concerned for the skunk aka Pepe Le Pew. I suppose it takes charged fences to deter corn snatchers, where Scare Crows may have been implemented? I wonder if the latter would work on skunks? |
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