Jenny McBride – Turtle
I work at a tree museum
So nice to be among like-minded
Nature-noticing humans.
Rolling into the research lot
One morning on my two-wheeler
I saw the cracked shell
Of a sparkling turtle stopped in its tracks
By employee traffic.
Eyes still open, dying in place
But I couldn’t stop
Because there was a pick-up truck
Coming fast: work to do.
Later someone had scraped it up
Tossed it aside, away with poor taste
I wear a turtle pendant
Absentee vote for Turtle Island
Every day on my bike
I, like the turtles,
Wait patiently, confidently,
For the end of the oil era.
Jenny McBride
July-August 2006 Earth First!
Date: February 17, 2012
Categories: Jenny McBride