Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
The bayou creeps closer and closer. A view from our back deck.
It’s been raining a lot. Last week, we only school for two days before we had two days off due to constant rain and flooding. The water has stayed a safe distance from my house, but the bayou banks are overflowing. I think this puts my pets into hibernation mode, but the outside animals, what do they do? Where do they go to find a warm, dry place?
I am not a fan of possums usually. They upset my dog and eat the cat food. They are downright ugly. But on Saturday morning, I watched one swim across the bayou and eventually climb up on our deck. I wrote a prose poem about his visit.
I watch a possum glide in this morning on the overflowing bayou.
Days and days of rain have flooded the banks and perhaps his nest.
Foraging, this common marsupial wanders–a scavenger exposed on an overcast winter morn. Minutes later, he appears on the deck. The dog goes nuts, barking in the screeching voice of a teenager attacked by a wasp. But the possum—unfazed—doesn’t notice the commotion.
He is on a mission, his long snout waving back and forth,
back and forth. I laugh at his comic book white face and pink nose as he swaggers away, probably laughing, too.
Reflections on the Teche 
They are not my favorite animal but I do have to feel some sympathy for the poor critter who has lost food source and home due to flooding. I loved the line of the dog’s barking! So funny to imagine.
I’m not as big a fan of the possum . We have one driving my dog nuts. I think we have enough rain now……
I enjoyed your post and the photograph. Your comment about the dog and the possum reminded me of a favorite book. Possum Come A-Knockin’
by Nancy Van Laan, George Booth (Illustrator). The illustrations are wonderful and the kids love it. I wish I could get it as a big book so the kids could see the illustrations better.
You made my morning.
I’ll have to look up that book. Possums are definitely humorous little creatures. Billy Collins has a wonderful possum poem in the most recent New Yorker.
Wow, that’s lots of water. I love the poem and that you were able to get a picture of his long pointy snout. XO
Possum are such odd creatures. Ugly cute at the best of times. In any case I felt like your prose captured this moment perfectly.
Thanks. I thought prose poetry was somehow easier, but I revised it over and over again to get the image I wanted. Thanks for stopping by.
I love the photo and the description of how your dog reacted!
My dogs go crazy over the dumbest things – barking like mad at other dogs walking across the street and the horses in the yard next door. Silly animals.