Square Poems 30: Groundhog Acrostic Poem by Kim Barney

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I call these square poems because they have the same number of syllables per line as there are lines in the poem. For example, a four-line poem would have four syllables per line, and a six-line poem would have six syllables per line.

This poem has nine lines, so it has nine syllables per line.

Square poems do not have to rhyme, and they do not have to be acrostics.

To see my other square poems with lower numbers from here, just keep clicking on the 'previous poem' button.

To see square poems with higher numbers, just keep clicking on the 'next poem' button.

Groundhogs are also variously referred to as woodchucks, whistle-pigs, or land-beavers. The name whistle-pig comes from the fact that, when alarmed, a groundhog will emit a high-pitched whistle as a warning to the rest of his or her colony. The name woodchuck has nothing to do with wood. Or chucking. It is derived from the Algonquian name for the critters, wuchak.
When I was young, rock chucks were a common sight for me and my brothers while we were working in the hay fields. We had one field down by the Black Hills between Annabella and Glenwood, Utah, and those hills were full of rock chucks. I have always thought that woodchucks and rock chucks are the same, but I learned while researching for this poem, that they are not. Groundhogs and woodchucks ARE the same, but rock chucks are really yellow-bellied marmots. Woodchucks are also marmots, but a different species, very closely related.

Woodchucks are not as long-lived as their rock chuck cousins. Woodchucks typically only live between four and six years in the wild. Disease and local predators are the most common reasons woodchucks die in the wild. In captivity, they live a little longer, up to 10 years. Rock chucks live much longer in the wild. They can survive between 13 to 15 years old, older than even captive woodchucks.
Woodchucks are usually between 18 and 24 inches long, with a 7- to 10-inch tail. They can get hefty for their size, weighing around 13 pounds. Woodchucks have fur that is light to dark brown in color, and sometimes gray. Their paws are dark brown to black. Yellow-bellied marmots are a little smaller than woodchucks, with an average weight of only 8 pounds, but are similar in overall length. They are paler in color than woodchucks, with overall yellow-brown color and a yellow-orange colored tummy. Pale yellow spots decorate the sides of a rock chuck's neck and they have white fur between their eyes.
One difference between the two marmots is where they live. The woodchuck lives primarily east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and north into Canada. It does live in the far northwestern part of Canada as well, extending to southern parts of Alaska. They typically live in forests with low elevations, pastures and even in human suburbs. The rock chuck lives in the western United States and into Canada, from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the south to Alberta in the north. Rock chucks can live in grassy forested areas like woodchucks, but they also populate deserts and mountains, unlike woodchucks.

Written 30 January 2017, posted 31 January 2017. I could have waited two more days and posted it on Groundhog Day, but I was going to be very busy the next two days and may not have got it done!