Silver Rodent

It is well-known among shamans

That your spirit animal chooses you

You do not choose it

Thus the 58-year old poet

Recovering alcoholic

And cancer survivor

Who marks his years by

Time without a drink (6 years)

A cigar (18 months)

Or a fist fight (also 6 years)

Finds himself rescuing

A tiny Shih Tzu mix

Warned that she was

A biter

Not fit for any home with a child

He knew

Or she told him

All she needed

Was love

And a bath

And the stray would become family

Just as he did

In Alabama

The hard-edged artist

Who has love for her family

And tolerance for most others

Finds a blind, freshly-weaned chipmunk

Frantic

Skittering on the sidewalk

Bouncing off of concrete steps 

The artist rescues him

This “Chippitydoodah”

And thus saves herself

She sees him as silver

Not brown

Shining from the inside

He helps her see

Though he can’t see at all.

(2/25/20)