Found a couple of infelicities and did some surgery. Just in time to beat
the deadline.
A DEATH IN ENGLISHTOWN
A body on the roadside: someone
has moved her to the shoulder,
or the driver got a lucky hit
that threw her back and sideways.
The State is so overpopulated,
what is one more or less on
a cold November morning
when people's minds are elsewhere?
Death is a commonplace on Jersey roads
so she goes unnoticed.
In the next lane, a driver
sits and shaves.
Another has her cell-phone,
yelling as though she matters.
On the roadside, the doe is intact
but her shapely head is bloodied.
Sometimes a traveler comes who is amazed
that we share--human and animal--
this sticky red commonality,
both symbol and reality of our transience.
In an hour the County will send a truck
to fetch her. Perhaps, though unlikely,
a workman will stroke her cold fur
and whisper words of their shared fragility.
KTW/11-26-03, 2 PM, Princeton, NJ
Kenneth Wolman http://www.kenwolman.com
"i had not really expected to find any of the art world populated with
ex-murderers fascists green berets and now i know that you can find
anything in the art world and they can even become prophets' -- David
Antin, "Tuning"
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