Curious–Hour 10

1.

At work one evening

a white shape beneath green foliage

caught my eye

across the street

at the edge of the golf course

I crossed over

to investigate

I pushed aside greenery

to find a pile of quicklime

with a deer skull sticking out of it

no doubt someone’s scheme

for subduing the stink of a carcass

Why not encase the dead deer

rather than remove it?

I stood with my hands behind my back

leaning in

wondering at this sculpture

white skull protruding

from white hardened material

and I recalled Michelangelo’s idea:

I did not sculpt a deer

rather I removed the stone that was not deer

 

2.

As I approached work in my car

a white shape against green foliage

caught my eye

I noticed the white cattle egret

standing on the grassy shoulder

across the street

wings behind its back

leaning in

investigating a roadside cross

that had been erected

in memory of a young woman

who’d been killed by a truck there

There was much to examine:

flowers and photos

and poems and remembrances

and trinkets

The egret remained there

focused

in position

as I drove past

 

One thought on “Curious–Hour 10

  1. Hmmm such vivid imagery! The deer skull quote leaves the reader with the question of how to remove the essential from its encasing…. which brings the reader to the white cattle egret perhaps pondering that question with regard to the lost life of the woman. Love the egret image – Doesn’t an egret’s posture evoke a question mark? Bringing the reader back to the title – Curious.
    Bravo!

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