READ A POEM
by Mary A. Turzillo
Road Kill
The roadkilled pizza box
will lie scrunched flat by two tire treads.
Late for class, you see pink-gray petal-pointy ears.
You slam on brakes.
You will hit the horn
but the lid of the box will only stir
and when you roll down the window you hear
heartbroken tiny screams
and oh, damn it! you jam the car in park.
The kitten will scream louder now he sees you
and when you move the box, you see
he is bleeding, hind quarters maybe paralyzed.
Avoiding filthy brown and bloody smears
you scoop him onto the box lid
and he will scream at you
help me leave me alone you're killing me help help.
Only later
after his miraculous cure by leftover swordfish,
will it occur to you that he sent out for you,
had you boxed and delivered
and he gets to keep the tip.
“Road Kill” by Mary A. Turzillo, from
Your Cat & Other Space Aliens. vanZeno Press, 2007. Used with permission of the author.
ABOUT TODAY’S POET
Mary Turzillo’s 1999 Nebula-winner, “Mars Is No Place for Children," and her Analog novel, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl, are recommended reading on the International Space Station. Her poetry collection Lovers & Killers won the 2013 Elgin Award for Best Collection. She has been a finalist on the British Science Fiction Association, Pushcart, Stoker, Dwarf Stars and Rhysling ballots. Sweet Poison, her collaboration with Marge Simon, just came out from Dark Renaissance. Currently, she is working on a novel called A Mars Cat and His Boy and lives in Berea, Ohio, with her scientist-writer husband, Geoffrey A. Landis.
WRITE A POEM
Think about opposites.
If we could make April Fool’s Day into April Sages Day, how would it be celebrated? Write a poem of decrees for such a day.