Weasels Everywhere
I saw one on the suburban shore of the Niagara.
Too large to be someone’s pet ferret, it puzzled me.
Mike set me straight. They had been seen
across the river on Grand Island. Mink.
And now, in Missouri. I think. Or thought.
The first time, swimming across a river –
what I would call a stream after a life on the Niagara –
to hide among trees and roots tumbled downstream
in a flood. It was low water the second time,
when I saw one ten miles away, loping along the shore.
The last time? Same place as the first, but the trees
and roots were long washed downstream, rivers doing
what rivers do. Farm country and woods, where
I might expect to see a mink. Or did I? River otters
are native to Missouri, and more common.
Too large for mink, and no white markings.
But what’s the difference? Indeed, why
differentiate? Both are beautiful,
and in their place. I’m sure both would
respect the other’s territory, that neither would
take it upon themselves to destroy the other’s home.
So I paddle, in both places, hoping for a glimpse
of that peace that seems so foreign to the outside world.
This is my response to earthweal weekly challenge: EVERWILD, where Sherry Marr asks us to “write from that place of holding onto wildness of soul, to balance the wild love and wild grief we swing between on any given day, at this time of utter unpredictability, when Mother Earth herself is providing us with comfort in our grief, even while she herself is bleeding.”
Off prompt, but shared with Day 21 at napowrimo.net.
Image source: Missouri Department of Conservation
rivrvlogr 
Funny, yesterday, I wrote about how I’d love to see an otter. We have coypu instead. Yes, animals in their right place do no harm to one another. Unlike people, who seem to be always in the wrong place.
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Coypu (atria, here) are only in the States due to their introduction on fur farms.
Usually, I feel like I’m part of the natural scene when I’m kayaking. When I see otters, I’m back to being an observer. They’re just so fascinating.
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I’d love to see an otter. They’re rare because they were hunted almost to extinction in Europe and numbers are only climbing back slowly. They need clean rivers free from fishermen infestation.
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thank you for sharing, Michael.
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Minks are so smart and cute, and fantastic in fishing. I love them. xx Michael
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😀
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You’re on fire today. Another wonderful poem.
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How wonderful to see them–whatever they are! And yes, animals usually don’t seem to mind other animals around (if they’re not preying on them).
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I’ve seen some interesting things. Once, I paddled into a side stream that usually sat just above the waterline in my usual experience, but this was during high water, and I was able to go in almost a quarter-mile, to a point where it was only fifteen feet across, with my head at grass level. I rounded a bend to see a doe watching me from 20 feet away. It got so that I just couldn’t take any more photos, and I slowly backed to a point where I could turn around.
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Magical moments!
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Oh this ending: 💔🔥🙏
“Both are beautiful,
and in their place. I’m sure both would
respect the other’s territory, that neither would
take it upon themselves to destroy the other’s home.
So I paddle, in both places, hoping for a glimpse
of that peace that seems so foreign to the outside world.”
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The animals are living in harmony, my friend once said. They are waiting for us to join them there. I fear we are a long ways off. Happy you wrote to the prompt, Ken! Here we have river otters. So cute! And curious. They climb up on the docks and survey us with bemusement.
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😀 Thank you, Sherry.
And thanks for the prompt.
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Indeed, why? Your river journeys always show us.. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe.
The differentiation should be between us (as a whole) and nature, for what we have done to it. But then, if we had considered ourselves one-and-the-same, we wouldn’t have to differentiate at this time.
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Nothing will change until we stop thinking we are the center of the universe.
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Yep.
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I’ve not seen mink, but I have seen otters in the wild, and it was a sheer delight!
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The second one I saw loped along the muddy bank for a quarter mile, while I paddled behind it. It was entertaining to watch its gait.
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I love the eye attentive to weasels here, seeing carefully and truly. To behold them is to is to be river-sighted. Well done.
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Thank you, Brendan. I certainly appreciate the few times I’ve seen otters.
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Ah, yes! Rivals, for me, “The peace of wild thins.”
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things!
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😀👍
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Thank you.
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