"Woodchucks" by Maxine Kumin

This poem tells the story of a woman who is trying to keep varmints from eating her crops and potentially taking food from her and her family's table. The woman starts by trying to gas the woodchucks but when that doesn't work she develops a blood lust and does on a shooting rampage to end the lives of the woodchucks.

"If only they'd all consented to die unseen
gassed underground the quiet Nazi way."

These last two lines stir a little controversy with readers. The line references to the mass extermination of the Holocaust and some people find it a tasteless and inappropriate way to end the poem. I agree that yes, it brings up startling images, and yes it is a pretty harsh way to state the thought, however it gets the point across vividly. This woman wanted these woodchucks dead. She would have much rather have not seen them die, but they refused to succumb to the gas so she took matters into her own hands. The reference to the Holocaust just emphasizes the fact that this woman was pushed way past her breaking point with these woodchucks. She was no longer thinking rationally and could only wish death upon these creatures. I believe that during the Holocaust many Nazis were the same way, not thinking rationally. I digress.

"I a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace"
"the murderer inside me rose up hard"

There was not one hint of pacifism in this poem. If at one point this farmer was actually a pacifist something drove her from her sanity and pushed her to throw her beliefs to the wind and embrace violence wholeheartedly.
 
The woman talks about sighting down the barrel and staring at the face of the young woodchuck. This personification strengthens the argument that she was seeing these small creatures as enemies. The woodchucks were the nemesis of this poor disturbed farm-woman. Perhaps she has been spraying a few too many chemicals on her crops. Perhaps she breathed in a little too much of the poison when she attempted gassing the woodchucks. I do not know the reason that she snapped and went on a Columbinesque killing spree, shooting to kill any varmint spotted near her garden. But I do know that something was definitely a little off kilter in this woman's psyche.

Hopefully now that this evil incarnate is all but driven back the woman will go back to being a peaceful farmer. And hopefully the "old wily fellow" takes the hint and jumps ship. A few broccoli shoots and carrots are certainly not worth risking life and limb. There will hopefully be greener pastures on the horizon for both of the remaining characters in this poem.