Trip into Town

Ancient oaks against a cloudless sky,
each bright green leaf new to the world;
no small dark deaths on the roadside,
just rippled grass and yellow flowers,
and then, lifting my heart, a bald eagle
rides the wind with such easy grace
that the alarm I live with
feels foolish, wrong,
until traffic stops at a light
and I notice a car in front of me
bullish with bumper stickers:
FUCK WOKE
DON’T TREAD ON ME
STOP GLOBAL WHINING
GOD BLESS THE USA
and the hand that briefly emerges
to flick a cigarette butt
on America.

Jean Ryan, a native Vermonter, lives in coastal Alabama. She is the author of two short story collections, Survival Skills and Lovers and Loners. She has also published a novel, Lost Sister, a book of nature essays, Strange Company, and a poetry collection, A Day Like This. jean-ryan.com