NATURE MORTE WITH ZOOLOGY PROFESSOR

Spring rain spots the driveway and morning

is delayed as

23 earthworms

get added to the bait collection

alongside a bucket of minnows,

55 fish

reserved for catching bigger fish. Jean kills

2 birds

with one stone, feeds his minnows leftover dog

food. Speaking of birds he’s once seen a chipmunk

eat a dead bird’s brain, 34 per cent unsaturated fat: who

needs nuts? Speaking of brains his colleague

had to shoot a video to prove that squirrels predate

on hares, snapping off the heads of

10 small rabbits

in one go to eat the brains, caloric equivalent

of a winter’s stash or a month’s lesson

in foraging theory.

1 man

is going fishing today to forget about brains,

casting bated lines