Pay Attention
By: Valerie Vickers
Our eyes meet
Her massive body flashes
across my vision
Huge black doe eyes
harbor panic
I nearly hit
her elegant brownness
I round the curve
She dives for cover
I take a grateful breath
that all is well
Is all well?
Huge dozers rip the silence
Trees twist in agony
Another forest lies
in mangled heaps
to be harvested or burned
These tree bones
have no graves
The sun descends
Shades of pink and orange
light the sky
like a layer cake
with cotton candy
cloud frosting
Car lights pick up
roadside carrion —
turtles snakes
raccoons opossums
an occasional raptor
dining too close to the road
fur of a red fox
freshly killed
Is it a he or she?
Are there kits in its den?
Is anyone counting
these lives?
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