Black Squirrels in the Forest

Black squirrels in a forest eating nuts

in their hands. Their bushy tails puff up

with flakes of snow. They eat their nuts

while sitting on rotten logs.

The wood, decaying and covered in fungi.

The black squirrels eat the nuts

of the hollow, of the hinterland,

of the pale blue sky.

Little seeds on the snow where

black squirrels and gray birds gather.

Trees tall and thin; they're close together,

making it difficult to gather

in the woods. Seeds of different

colors and sizes; whatever isn't plucked

will fall to the soil and turn into flora.

***

Black squirrels in a forest,

their ears but triangles, their eyes

like darkened beads. Little tufts

of fur dotted with snow.

They pounce on each other;

little arms going every which way

as they wrestle for seeds.

They scatter into the shadows

to groom their bushy tails.