Books by the old Leather Chair

  • Snow In The Summer
  • My Bible
  • The Power of Silence
  • What Comes Next and to Like It
  • Encore Provence
  • A Year in Provence

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Moles

The moles are tunneling everywhere
in my small yard and in the crop field.
Not through my flower garden
thank goodness.
Wonder if their abundance
has any special significance?
Callie has turned out to be
a good mole dog..

Under the leaves, under
the first loose
levels of earth
they're there - quick
as beetles, blind
as bats, shy
as hares but seen
less than these -

Field after field
you can see the traceries
of their long
lonely walks, then
rains blur
even this frail
hint of them
so excitable,
so plush,
so willing to continue
generation after generation
accomplishing nothing
but their brief physical lives
as they live and die,
pushing and shoving
with their stubborn muzzles against
the whole earth,
finding it
delicious...

~~ Mary Oliver~~ poem  in part from "American Primitive"

6 comments:

Tabor said...

First time this year we have a mole hanging out by the path to the dock. Thus far he is loosening he soil and not hurting the plants. I am hoping he doesn't reproduce to much.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Tabor, now if they would loosen the earth like this in my little square foot garden space - would save me from loosening the soil :)
The usually reproduce quite well
hopefully he or she finds a new home.

the wild magnolia said...

the moles are here in the park too. they are slippery little buggers.

Mary Oliver is a favorite.

wishing you a great week.

Sky said...

well, when they loosen the earth and then start messing with the roots of plants it can get pretty expensive. we have lost 6-7 very healthy, older, and large plants to moles over the years due to root system damage, had our gravel and flagstone pathways impeded by overturned soil, and spent a fair amount of time and money in major repair or replacement projects. not my fav garden resident. in fact, one of the few we would rid ourselves permanently of, if we could. i wish i could count the number of remedies we have tried hoping to encourage them to leave and STAY GONE. wish i had all the bucks we've spent in the process of dealing with them!

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Sky, never had them damage anything in garden. Moles just tear up my lawn and of course the field in front - it does not matter. Sorry for your expensive damage.
Sandy, as always thanks for commenting - enjoy this travel time.

lil red hen said...

One Woman, you might get a laugh from the post I wrote about my hunting moles: it's found on the post for May 18, 2011. Sorry, but I don't know how to make a link for it. Moles can be pests!