{"id":2883,"date":"2021-03-11T15:09:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T20:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/?p=2883"},"modified":"2021-04-08T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T16:37:00","slug":"owen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2021\/03\/11\/owen\/","title":{"rendered":"A Collection of Poems: Creeper, Brown; Outside; Guilt Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Owen<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Creeper, Brown<\/h3>\n

Indexed so in Sibley\u2019s splendid<\/span><\/p>\n

bird book as if there were other<\/span><\/p>\n

Creepers, Blue and Red or Iridescent.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It lives, vertical and shy, on tree trunks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Minute, quick, and to say what I saw<\/span><\/p>\n

takes longer than the instant<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a Brown Creeper took a bath in\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a still place in hillside run-off near\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

dusk on a December day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It splashed and flut-flutted its wings,<\/span><\/p>\n

shook itself so droplets flew and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

caught the low light, and for a nano-second<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

it bathed in a misty rainbow. So<\/span><\/p>\n

utterly small and private with no<\/span><\/p>\n

need of me to see, or say its name<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

it flew up, landed,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

fluffed itself twice,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

preened and flew away.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Outside<\/h3>\n

We didn’t know what killed the deer, but\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

that winter morning the carcass lay between our dirt road<\/span><\/p>\n

and the lake. No choice but to leave it then watch<\/span><\/p>\n

kite-winged crows then ravens feed<\/span><\/p>\n

then days later one brindle coyote and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

that night even with glass panes between, a shiver\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

as the pack’s yaps and yammers fed the atavistic<\/span><\/p>\n

fear that we were cowering in the Arctic dark\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

in a snow house. In the morning the carcass lay twisted,<\/span><\/p>\n

bare backbone and rib cage a crumpled\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

dismembered wreckage.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And then two eagles came. All that afternoon<\/span><\/p>\n

they worked to drag the carcass<\/span><\/p>\n

off the land onto the ice beating their wings\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to pull then eat then dig in talons and flap<\/span><\/p>\n

with huge and mighty strokes to move it again and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

eat till only scattered bones and hide remained\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

in the stark hierarchy and secret elegance<\/span><\/p>\n

of nature\u2019s economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Guilt Trip<\/h3>\n

In her basement this Saturday\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the countrywoman, retired, starts to collect stuff\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

to take to the dump. Somehow she has never<\/span><\/p>\n

bought \u2018transfer station\u2019 and wonders\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

where it\u2019s all transferred to and has a few ideas<\/span><\/p>\n

but won\u2019t ask for fear they\u2019ll tell her and<\/span><\/p>\n

she\u2019ll turn inside-out with guilt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She eyes the four trash bags<\/span><\/p>\n

of returnable \u2018bottles\u2019 that she thinks\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of as metonymy for all the milk and juice and beer<\/span><\/p>\n

and designer sparkling water and just plain<\/span><\/p>\n

water from the water thieves at Poland Spring<\/span><\/p>\n

a.k.a. Nestl\u00e9 that just the two of them have consumed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Briefly she thinks of her good well water<\/span><\/p>\n

and feels the familiar flinch of guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She\u2019s been worn thin by requests<\/span><\/p>\n

to save the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the Indonesian pygmy rhino and<\/span><\/p>\n

the Furbish lousewort and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

because she was born with a dominant responsibility<\/span><\/p>\n

gene she shorts out and can do<\/span><\/p>\n

nothing about any of it. Then she thinks<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How grocery shopping fries her<\/span><\/p>\n

choice synapses and although her education<\/span><\/p>\n

tells her no blueberries or swordfish from\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Peru or Chile, there\u2019s beef and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

penitentiary chicken and whether the coffee<\/span><\/p>\n

is shade grown and is what she wants<\/span><\/p>\n

responsibly source (which means?) including<\/span><\/p>\n

plant- based everything and how much<\/span><\/p>\n

she dislikes soy. Her exhaustion\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

and the dilemmas are existential. All that<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kicks in as she looks at the four trash bags.<\/span><\/p>\n

She knows she will have to take them<\/span><\/p>\n

to the Redemption Center 25 miles away\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

where she will stand in line and think\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

what Redemption for her might mean and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

how to ask for it. She knows\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

she is far from it, often beyond it, and smiles<\/span><\/p>\n

when she thinks of the mileage and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the inner struggles she could use Redemption for.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This morning she loads the bottles and the trash\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

together to skip the drive and live\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

with the guilt of adding to the landfill\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

maybe offset by her having<\/span><\/p>\n

a smaller carbon footprint for the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turning in, she sees a row of green plastic<\/span><\/p>\n

trash cans next to the compactor<\/span><\/p>\n

with a hand-lettered black on red sign<\/span><\/p>\n

that says \u2018Bottle Drop to Benefit<\/span><\/p>\n

Boy Scouts.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She pulls over, puts her head on her hands<\/span><\/p>\n

on the steering wheel and laughs and\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

laughs until she cries and<\/span><\/p>\n

Ed the dump guy walks over and<\/span><\/p>\n

taps on her window to asks if<\/span><\/p>\n

she\u2019s ok.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

For information regarding recycling reform in Maine, check out the PDF link below:<\/em>
\nRecycling Reform Facts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Owen   Creeper, Brown Indexed so in Sibley\u2019s splendid bird book as if there were other Creepers, Blue and Red or Iridescent.   It lives, vertical and shy, on tree trunks. Minute, quick, and to say what I saw takes longer than the instant   a Brown Creeper took a bath in\u00a0 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spire-2021-issue"],"yoast_head":"\nA Collection of Poems: Creeper, Brown; Outside; Guilt Trip - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2021\/03\/11\/owen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Collection of Poems: Creeper, Brown; Outside; Guilt Trip - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lucia Owen   Creeper, Brown Indexed so in Sibley\u2019s splendid bird book as if there were other Creepers, Blue and Red or Iridescent.   It lives, vertical and shy, on tree trunks. 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