ON THE MELANISTIC SQUIRREL
OUTSIDE MY ROOM (HOSPITAL POEM IV)

She makes arcs on the pavement 
in the staff courtyard, her tail a serpent 

behind. The detritus in her cheeks 
	evokes dark love, wars as wide as quasars, 

the theory of fists and blood, 
	palm-sized miracles. She is, you know, a 

relative of ravens, engorged on 
	the covert. An orderly watches her from 

a bench, head cocked, Bible-lapped. 
	He has forgotten that they are both below 

the firmament; for some time he
	considers the nature of reading anything.

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Chelsea Eckert is a creative writing undergraduate at San Jose State University. Her work has appeared in Stoneboat Literary Magazine and Bird’s Thumb, among others.

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