This month it was my turn to set the Inklings challenge. I suggested that we “write a love note to something or someone or some place.” I shared José A. Alcántara’s Love Note to Silence as a possible mentor, or alternatively, I suggested riffing off of one of Georgia Heard’s June Small Letters calendar prompts.

I recently encountered Alcántara’s poem in an on-line class. The first two stanzas establish the relationship between the poet and silence. Here are the last two stanzas:

But listening to you is like the shore listening to the ocean.
I’m swept clean of my detritus, my rotting organic matter,
everything tossed there by the rude and the ugly.

Here, let me grab my pen and notebook, my binoculars. Let me slip
on my coat and shoes. The sandhill cranes are passing overhead.
Let’s go to the fields at the edge of town and make some noise.

You can read the whole poem ( here).*

Inspired by Alcántara, I considered writing love notes to all sorts of things: paper, grief (really!), the great blue heron, the marsh, hummingbirds, the clock, etc. But I kept coming back to… of all things…chipmunks! They just make me happy. So I went with that.

Love note to a chipmunk

Oh, chipmunk, you harbinger of spring!
You’re the racing car of rodents,
sleek and striped,
you scamper and scurry
all rush and hurry as you zip
and zoom across and through
the tangled garden green
or dash into cracks and crevices
or scurry up a tree.

You pop up here and
there
and then appear
in yet another spot.
Always go, go, going!
Until you’re not.

Then you sit in one space
with your nuts or fruit or seeds
and your clever hands proceed
to stuff your face bit by bit by bit
until your cheeks are full–
stretched beyond belief.
You adorable greedy rascal!
You’re my dependable comic relief!

How can I not love you?
Your acrobatic antics never cease
to amuse.
Such sassy spunk and acts
of derring-do.

Ah, chipmunk,
you have a gift for lightness
amidst your serious pursuits.
An intrepid explorer,
you’re bold and brave,
finding sustenance and sweetness
in every day.

Now that summer’s fading fast away,
you’ll soon depart
to hibernate beneath the snow,
all snug in some cozy cave or den,
idling your engine
until you can brave
the first chilly days of spring.

Then once again, you’ll fling yourself
into life with impressive gusto.

Oh, sweet chipmunk,
I’ll be waiting for you.

©Molly Hogan, draft

And now here’s a little cuteness overload for you from around my home:

As a bonus, I have to include a couple of photos from David Bird, an amazing photographer who has photographed wildlife, including chipmunks, with his own created “Becorns”.

If you’re interested in seeing what the other Inklings did with this prompt, please check on the links below:

Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Mary Lee is busy gallivanting around the globe this week.

This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Margaret Simon at her blog, Reflections on the Teche, where she shares her own love note.

*Please note that there’s a typo in that on line version, but I can’t find it anywhere else. It should read “sandhill cranes” in the fourth stanza, NOT “handheld cranes”!