Harvey, the African crested porcupine,
spent his formative years indoors
and now gets stressed
under the big open sky.

Maybe you’ve also felt overwhelmed
by the bigness of the world—maybe you’ve let
something small but sure hold you.

To help him adjust, his keepers
are building a little porch so he can hang outside
with the other porcupine
who’s all quills and sunshine.

Sometimes what holds us
is choosing what we know
instead of sunbathing with Potato Gregg.

And sometimes what nudges us
is a small shift in dailiness:
a gentle breeze, warm mulch,
apple-slice snacking,
fencepost scratching—

forgetting to look up
until we do, and find the sky has yet to swallow us.