to the one smell that didn’t fit to the one smell that crossed the clipped grass

into the ditch beside the dirt road where the dog went too the dog

tracking the smell the trooper tracking the dog the dog

not barking or baying until the scent stopped

inside the culvert bearing the brook west under the road

a large metal pipe that amplified the dog’s whimpers and moans

dog of righteousness dog of retribution

we heard it from our house where soon the shutters would go up

we sat in the kitchen the summer air soft as a damp rag we knew

this was a moment of consequence but we couldn’t tell

whether the world had grown larger or smaller

MOLES

where is his hat where is his horse where is his harrier my beloved

is distraught he made this yard each blade each stem each stalk except

the mounds of fresh dirt like little graves it’s moles that make the mounds

when they make holes they’re worms with fur the cat

does not do moles she’s stalking rooks and mice beloved

has scattered human hair across the sod it keeps the deer away

he has installed a high-pitched hum in the lily bed it keeps the dogs

out of the yard who might have otherwise unearthed a mole too bad

traps don’t work the way they do for squirrels my father

used to thrust the hose into one hole and flood them out my beloved

does not care what my father did this greensward is his joy his job

my job was children food house the rest of what I did stayed underground

GARTER SNAKE

hibernaculum a hole in the earth

from which in spring the snakes ooze forth the males

much smaller than the female stretched out like a tree-limb

among the tulips not moving not rippling or flinching preoccupied

a film over her eyes along her body the smaller snakes

flex and extend they may be helping her shed or may be

roughhousing like little boys which is what I thought at the pond

when I saw three mallards jump another duck they stayed underwater

a very long time she never did resurface the female snake seems

oblivious sheathed in ribbons one of them shudders off

and shimmies toward the lilac hedge our friend

wants to show us he can catch a snake at the top of its spine

and reaches into the grass but even a garter snake

has teeth we see it flung then reinvented half erect

on its coils hissing or taking soundings with its tongue

swiveling its head to follow the enemy

that’s us

GROUNDHOG

not unlike otters which we love frolicking

floating on their backs like truant boys unwrapping lunch

same sleek brown pelt some overtones of gray and rust

though groundhogs have no swimming hole and lunch

is rooted in the ground beneath short legs small feet