Nancy Scott McBride’s most recent poem to appear here was “Bees in the Cherry Trees” (May 2019). 

Road Kill
By Nancy Scott McBride

If it seriously upsets you,
don’t move to the country,
because it’s everywhere.
Each time you get behind the wheel
of your car, you see it.
And it’s everything—deer, bears, foxes,
possums, cats and dogs, raccoons.
Yes, I know the latter are destructive nuisances,
but here’s the thing: they’re cute.
I saw one today as I drove back from the bank.
Curled on his side at the edge of the road—
not a visible mark on him—
he looked for all the world as if,
tired from scrounging in garbage cans all night,
he’d simply lain down to take a nap,
delicate little hands tucked neatly beneath his chin.