Margaret Atwood Quote
Red FoxThe red fox crosses the iceintent on none of my business.It's winter and slim pickings.I stand in the bushy cemetery,pretending to watch birds,but really watching the foxwho could care less.She pauses on the sheer glareof the pond. She knows I'm there,sniffs me in the wind at her shoulder.If I had a gun or dogor a raw heart, she'd smell it.She didn't get this smart for nothing.She's a lean vixen: I can seethe ribs, the slytrickster's eyes, filled with longingand desperation, the skinnyfeet, adept at lies.Why encourage the notionof virtuous poverty?It's only an excusefor zero charity.Hunger corrupts, and absolute hungercorrupts absolutely,or almost. Of course there are mothers,squeezing their breastsdry, pawning their bodies,shedding teeth for their children,or that's our fond belief.But remember - Hanseland Gretel were dumped in the forestbecause their parents were starving.. To survivewe'd all turn thiefand rascal, or so says the fox,with her coat of an elegant scoundrel,her white knife of a smile,who knows just where she's going:to steal somethingthat doesn't belong to her -some chicken, or one more chance,or other life.
Red FoxThe red fox crosses the iceintent on none of my business.It's winter and slim pickings.I stand in the bushy cemetery,pretending to watch birds,but really watching the foxwho could care less.She pauses on the sheer glareof the pond. She knows I'm there,sniffs me in the wind at her shoulder.If I had a gun or dogor a raw heart, she'd smell it.She didn't get this smart for nothing.She's a lean vixen: I can seethe ribs, the slytrickster's eyes, filled with longingand desperation, the skinnyfeet, adept at lies.Why encourage the notionof virtuous poverty?It's only an excusefor zero charity.Hunger corrupts, and absolute hungercorrupts absolutely,or almost. Of course there are mothers,squeezing their breastsdry, pawning their bodies,shedding teeth for their children,or that's our fond belief.But remember - Hanseland Gretel were dumped in the forestbecause their parents were starving.. To survivewe'd all turn thiefand rascal, or so says the fox,with her coat of an elegant scoundrel,her white knife of a smile,who knows just where she's going:to steal somethingthat doesn't belong to her -some chicken, or one more chance,or other life.
Related Quotes
About Margaret Atwood
Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age.
Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada. She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents.