Original digital surreal art: “Chubby Chickaree” by: rob kistner © 9/28/23
Outside my Oregon window
here in the Cascade foothills
late afternoon celebrates
alive with September sun
and the scurry of small things
warmed by Summer’s soft surrender
post-equinox nature
awaits Autumn’s dressing
in splendid voice
the chuff of tree’d red squirrel
the American Red Squirrel
Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus
referred to by many
as the chickaree
or even pine squirrel
these chattery little bandits
prefer the higher-elevation
coniferous forests of Oregon
they blend their chittered bursts
with the songs
chirps
and trills of birds
chickadee
goldfinch
western bluebird
northern flicker
western tanager
and high airborne
osprey
hawk
and eagle
so many others
that fly
flutter
and flit
through the intoxicating
PAC Northwest mountain air
all the while
quick little chickaree
in lightning-fast raiding parties
are stealing
cracking
and eating
the black-oil sunflower seeds
that they effortlessly spill
from my
“strategically placed”
squirrel-proof
bird feeders
yeah / right!
nothing is safe
from these scampering
bushy-tailed brigands
they can climb straight up
an extremely slippery
pencil-thin
6’ tall black metal pole
utterly amazing
I watch it
still don’t believe it
cute as they are
they’re exasperating
these seed raids go on
under the patient eye
of a wise Red-Tailed Hawk
also with a mind on dinner
Original digital surreal art: “Patience”
by: rob kistner © 9/28/23
casually calling
from the very top
of a Sitka spruce
swaying in the crisp gilding sky
he watches
woven into this sonic tapestry
the sweet muffled belling
of a White Tailed deer
wandering in the safety of old-growth
whispering in these foothills
the quiet bark of a neighbor’s dog
echoes through the basin
up along the stream
signaling its curiosity
reminding me fondly
we have dear friends nearby
the soothing rustle of leaves
large and small
stirred by the breezes
waft through this valley
scented by bark
loam
and moss
by foothill wildflowers
the fragrances of living earth
as I swoon
my reverie is smartly punctuated
by the staccato of conifer cones
that fall from time to time
wrested free by pine squirrel
and chipmunk
conversing boisterously
high in the Douglas Fir
busy with their forage
wap! wap! wap!
cones strike the ground
and bounce off our roof
closely followed
by the flurry of their liberators
crunching their way
to the heart-meat of the cone
the delicacy
that elicits
this furious industry
some they hide away
for a later treat
I exhale softly
seated by my evening window
with tea
and fascination
mesmerized by all I behold
my spirit full
I am profoundly aware
of how blessed I am
how very precious
these moments are
and
that they will not last
forever
Original digital surreal art: “Evening Window”
by: rob kistner © 9/28/23
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rob kistner © 9/28/23
Poetry at: dVerse