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The Old House
Jennifer Campbell

My son recalls the ants
in our breakfast room
marching up his soft arm, lured
by syrup and sweet cake,
but I think of the mouse droppings
insinuating themselves into pots
and Tupperware, outside a cracker box
or crowding the sponge in its little drawer.
Keeping up with it became too much
for me and even the cats patrolling
in the nighttime needed to occupy
their sun spots and rest each morning.
Hazards of an old house in the country
I was told, just get a few traps,
you’ll be good as gold, but I knew
the house was never mine to mark,
to leave with indelible proof
of my existence and progeny
like the family of raccoons
in the hollow of our maple tree.
I was one in a line of creatures
just doing my daily work,
leaving some trace of scent and skin
that would shift into memory
come next season.

—
Jennifer Campbell is an English professor in Buffalo, NY, and a co-editor of Earth’s Daughters. She has two full-length poetry collections, Supposed to Love and Driving Straight Through, and her chapbook of reconstituted fairy tales was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2021. Jennifer’s work has recently appeared in The Healing Muse, San Pedro River Review, Heirlock, and Paterson Review.

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