As I sat with words of prayer,
a chipmunk raced toward me
along the pathway,
stopped a foot in front of me,
looked all around,
then in the blink of an eye
swiveled
and raced off the way it had come.
Had you suddenly realized
you had forgotten something,
little chipmunk?
Had you sensed danger?
Had you seen or felt my presence?
Just what was it
that made you stop and look
and return the way you had come?
What made you realize
you were going
in the wrong direction?
Tell me a little chipmunk,
that I may understand.
Katy Z. Allen is a lover of the more-than-human world, poet, retired rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah outdoor congregation, former healthcare chaplain, co-founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network, eco-chaplain, and the founder of the Earth Etudes for Elul in 2011/5771. The recipient of the 2025 Prose Poetry Competition Honorable Mention, her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in such places as Amethyst Review, The Bluebird Word, Cosmic Daffodil, and Art on the Trails: Number 9. Her poetic book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text and Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season were published by Strong Voices Publishing. Her work can be found online at www.katyzallen.com.
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God must be watching over us with many such questions as these.
August 24, 2026 at 2:27 pmThank you for your soulful post.
Alan