With everyone in lockdown
the city sidewalks and streets
sit mainly empty
haunting
like one of those post meltdown
Chernobyl documentaries
cautiously
the animals come out
start wandering into town

Many forget that
we are the invaders

Put up a new subdivision?
no problem!
with little thought of the biology
ecological consequences

Resident populations pushed out
of ancestral lands

Ottawa is no exception
South Keys
where I’ve made my home for the past 30 years
considered out in the boonies
when I first moved in
after amalgamation of satellite communities
now a part of the inner city

In 2005
behind my row
a large grove leveled
for new houses
surrounded by subdivisions
nowhere else to go
with the coming of the bulldozers
our backyards invaded
ground-hogs, raccoons, skunks
even packs of coyotes
a little further out but not far
in the woods along Albion

In Riverside South
further west
at least one has become
a dangerous nuisance
having lost its fear of man
he circles and chases
bit one man in the ankle
the province tells the city
you’ll have to own this one

Residents with their guard up
think of the children!
some say call in a professional
humane trapper
or as one radio talk show caller put it
tongue in cheek
Shoot – Shovel – Shut Up


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650 hits as of May 2024

06/15/2020

Posted on 06/15/2020
Copyright © 2025 Chris Sorrenti