{"id":3723,"date":"2023-04-21T01:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/?p=3723"},"modified":"2023-04-21T09:05:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T13:05:24","slug":"owen-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2023\/04\/21\/owen-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Series: Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene; In the Dark; Rescuing Caterpillars on Birch Avenue; Gypsy Moths"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Owen\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene<\/h3>\n

1. Euthanizing Canada Geese
\n<\/em>Rangeley\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

No one really wants to, not the State guys
\n<\/span>or the Selectmen, but no other way
\n<\/span>to keep the tourists from stepping
\n<\/span>in the goose shit or local business
\n<\/span>losing money because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one to scoop it or hose it or use it
\n<\/span>or say Watch Your Step. Geese here
\n<\/span>since the end of the last ice age
\n<\/span>have adapted admirably
\n<\/span>to human habitat.<\/span><\/p>\n

The geese follow the careful trail
\n<\/span>of cracked corn family by family,
\n<\/span>goslings in the order hatched
\n<\/span>walk precisely in line between
\n<\/span>their parents to an unnamed site<\/span><\/p>\n

where in some unnamed way
\n<\/span>not wounded, diseased or rabid
\n<\/span>they will die to remove
\n<\/span>the slippery inconvenience
\n<\/span>of their shit.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Black Bear Hunting Referendum
\n<\/em>Statewide\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

We keep bumping into bears
\n<\/span>invading our habitat.
\n<\/span>Tentacled twining suburbs,
\n<\/span>rich and fragrant garbage cans
\n<\/span>and the sweet greasy smell of burgers
\ndripping fat onto charcoal
\n<\/span>lure bears.
\n<\/span>For our own safety we vote to extend
\n<\/span>black bear hunting by a month.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Eradicating the Winter Tick
\n<\/em>Franklin, Somerset, Piscataquis Counties\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

Is it good management practice
\n<\/span>to remove the host of a parasitic
\n<\/span>species? Winter ticks have killed
\n<\/span>more than half the moose calves
\n<\/span>born each spring, sucking their blood
\n<\/span>until they slowly die.
\n<\/span>Adult moose host the winter tick.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Euthanizing Canada Geese
\n<\/em>at the former Mercy Hospital, Portland\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

When the shit got to be
\n<\/span>too much and people complained
\n<\/span>the game warden or whoever
\n<\/span>herded the geese into something
\n<\/span>and took them somewhere
\n<\/span>and maybe used gas.
\n<\/span>At night.
\n<\/span>No one saw.<\/span><\/p>\n

More geese, not understanding
\n<\/span>inconvenience or mercy,
\n<\/span>appeared the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

In the Dark<\/h3>\n

One eye
\n<\/span>flares
\n<\/span>in my headlights \u2013
\n<\/span>cheek ear antler shoulder
\n<\/span>slam against me \u2013
\n<\/span>gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hyperventilate
\n<\/span>hit the brakes hit the dirt,
\n<\/span>expect an animal bleeding,
\n<\/span>leg broken, thrashing in the road.
\n<\/span>But nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Above the dent gray-brown hair
\n<\/span>clumped in the door handle
\n<\/span>all that\u2019s left. A friend ties flies,
\n<\/span>wants the hair. I
\n<\/span>pop out the dent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Broken ribs, punctured lung
\n<\/span>the deer\u2019s death all that\u2019s left
\n<\/span>after the sad, sad collision
\n<\/span>of our ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Rescuing Caterpillars on Birch Avenue<\/h3>\n

When I walk there I try to save them from the steamy asphalt river,
\n<\/span>The squish of pulp trucks and the school bus.<\/span><\/p>\n

They drop everywhere from nowhere and squirm and wriggle
\n<\/span>With pure Purpose every which way.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to tell where they\u2019re headed.
\n<\/span>I break bracken fronds and lure each one up<\/span><\/p>\n

And shake it off in the roadside jungle
\n<\/span>Where it may \u2013 or may not \u2013 escape the birds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most words are longer than they are. I admire
\n<\/span>Each one, exquisite in its minute plumage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mottled green, silky hairs, pairs of orange dots
\n<\/span>That undulate along its underside like tiny treads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Splotchy camouflage, naked segmented skin \u2013
\n<\/span>Any bigger and you\u2019d scream and run.<\/span><\/p>\n

White, black back diamonds, bristles on a tiny bottlebrush.
\n<\/span>Hard to tell which end is which until it moves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harder to imagine what ephemeral winged thing
\n<\/span>Each will become and how.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hardest to know what may come to crush us or what
\n<\/span>Can rescue us or who or what we will become.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Gypsy Moths<\/h3>\n

Too hairy for any bird to eat
\n<\/span>their caterpillars squirm and swarm
\n<\/span>up the sides of my house, my car
\n<\/span>defecate tiny green pellets that patter
\n<\/span>in continual rain from the trees
\n<\/span>they are defoliating, leave streaks
\n<\/span>of green slime when I sweep
\n<\/span>and hose them off daily. I am defending
\n<\/span>Rome against the Goths.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gypsy Moth – subtle mottled brown,
\n<\/span>small, antennae delicate as fern fronds
\n<\/span>or hummingbird feathers. Squashing one
\n<\/span>leaves a gentle puff, an imprint
\n<\/span>of life in moth fur.<\/span><\/p>\n

Upstairs I stop counting one day
\n<\/span>at 50 crowding the windows
\n<\/span>clinging to curtains, dying behind doors.
\n<\/span>I take the vacuum cleaner, suck them in
\n<\/span>out of mid-flutter. Moth Buster. I plug
\n<\/span>the vac hose so none escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Undulating hordes of caterpillars continue
\n<\/span>to devour my trees leaf by leaf. Insatiable
\n<\/span>they feed to fuel their metamorphosis
\n<\/span>into something almost pretty but are really<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>vanguard of invasions sure to come
\n<\/span>Brown Tailed Moth Emerald Ash Borer
\n<\/span>Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, waves and
\n<\/span>winds and fires as I stand here
\n<\/span>and wield my feeble broom.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

By Lucia Owen\u00a0   Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene 1. Euthanizing Canada Geese Rangeley\u00a0 No one really wants to, not the State guys or the Selectmen, but no other way to keep the tourists from stepping in the goose shit or local business losing money because of it. No one to scoop it or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2031,"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":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spire-2023-issue"],"yoast_head":"\nPoetry Series: Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene; In the Dark; Rescuing Caterpillars on Birch Avenue; Gypsy Moths - 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\/2023\/04\/21\/owen-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poetry Series: Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene; In the Dark; Rescuing Caterpillars on Birch Avenue; Gypsy Moths - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lucia Owen\u00a0   Maine: Wildlife Management in the Anthropocene 1. Euthanizing Canada Geese Rangeley\u00a0 No one really wants to, not the State guys or the Selectmen, but no other way to keep the tourists from stepping in the goose shit or local business losing money because of it. 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