Page 8 - Contrast1987v29

(Of the Country Road)

Like double beacons of Death
the headlights claw through
the darkness (of the
country road).
Ahead

a mother 'possum, her pouch full with young,

prowls the soft shoulder (of the
country road).
On the dark pavement
the warm night air hovers

in waves of fog
As squealing tires meet

a flurry of fur.

Stunned, but not quite dead,
the 'possum staggers to retrieve
ONE fal/en young, left wobbling
in the foggy dark (of the
country road). Instinct drives her forward
toward the scent of Death.
She takes her young into her bloody mouth
as the steel teeth of technology
swallow her forever.
Nearby

a baby cries __

Hungry, naked,
COLD --

Abandoned in a ditch

by its mother.

Kelley S. Connor '87

6