Alley Cat Rutabaga – Pedaling Thru
Pedaling thru hills shrouded in rain
Every leaf murmurs the sounds
Of the highway
Past the countless, strangled eyes of roadkill
With their toupees of blood & brains
Over mud-filled water
Carrying the land downriver
Where it will be the soil
Of a new America
Or the fertility
Of a greater nothingness,
Life being too delicate
For second chances.
Regardless, we are choking or drowning
& when we finally reach out our hands we
May find only our cousins, kudzu & honeysuckle
Reaching over & over & over the land…
Alley Cat Rutabaga
November-December 2003 Earth First!