"Roadkill"
A second poem published in Blue Bottle Journal
Roadkill
When I moved to the East Coast, I-95 became part of my life. This interstate runs from Maine to Florida and I have experienced a good chunk of it, having road-tripped from NC to FL.
The diversity of roadkill on I-95 is quite impressive. In NC, it’s your typical: deer, raccoons, possums, foxes, coyotes, and rabbits. But the farther South you go, other interesting critters start showing up: armadillos & turtles. The seed of this poem arrived to me while on such a road trip, no doubt having witnessed some roadside corpses.
Like most people (I assume), I hate roadkill. It makes me so sad to think of all the animals minding their own business and then coming upon a stretch of man-made road where vehicles are moving at 70 miles per hour. Many animals simply don’t understand the speed at which vehicles can move.
With the help of the anaphora ‘more like’, this poem is meant to cast a critical light on our acceptance of the phenomenon of roadkill.
Read it here (scroll to the second poem!).
Currently reading: Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Recent internet search of note: Who invented Teflon?
Fell down a research rabbit hole with this one.
Recently pre-ordered books*:
The River People by Liz Kellebrew - now available
Good Girl and Other Yearnings by Isabelle Correa
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