STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
KARI GUNTER-SEYMOUR
My son bought the feeder as a joke
after I emailed several corny TikTok reels
of baby squirrels at a rescue habitat
dressed in frilly dresses and ridiculous
hats, hamming it up for the cameras, miniature
rutabagas propped between their paws.
They’re nearly as theatrical here,
without cause or costume,
scurrying upside down and crossways.
I have a favorite who sports
a reddish use-your-imagination
heart-shaped mark
smack in the middle of his forehead.
He barks at me on days
I’m late to fill the feed box.
My son teases me, his tree-hugger
mother spending cash money
on silly rodents who will eventually
raid the trash cans and make
a mess of the bird feeders,
then in the next breath admits
he’s been doling out apples to a small
herd of white-tailed, who line up
at his back door every morning, feeds
them in spite of the fact they nibble his hostas
nearly to the ground every summer, as if
his flower bed is a Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar.
Our critter care won’t stop
the polar ice caps from melting,
or curb world hunger,
but from where I stand, in this mucked-up world
practicing compassion is an act of resistance.
I’m totally down with that.
Kari Gunter-Seymour is the immediate past poet laureate of Ohio and a recipient of an IPPY Bronze, NYC Big Book, Feathered Quill, and Next Generation Indie Finalist Book award. Her newest collection “All That Teethes Within” is forthcoming Fall 2026 from University of Kentucky Press. Her work has been featured in World Literature Today, American Book Review, Rattle, About Place Journal, Poem-a-Day, Katie Curic’s Wake Up Call and The New York Times.
