Duane Anderson

Road Kill

Six deer lay along the side of the road

on the trip going east, and another ten deer

along the westbound lanes on our return

trip back along with multiple raccoons,

possums, and other animals too disfigured

to determine what species they once were

when they still remained living,

along with large red splatters covering several

sections of the road, probably deer,

based on the size of the splatters.

The deer had since been removed,

but their blood still remained, waiting

for the rains to wash it away.

Not everything viewed was lifeless, seeing

one deer on the other side of some trees,

still alive, not appearing of having

any intention of crossing the road at this time.

The animals did not know

that the road was hazardous to their health,

though it wasn’t the road that was the problem,

but the cars and trucks that

travelled at fast speeds along it,

and they over estimated their own skills

on how quickly they could cross,

thinking they were faster than the cars and trucks.

It will never be known how many succeeded

crossing the road, only the ones that did not.

Preferred Walking Style

He was walking on the sidewalk along the

busy street wearing pants and a short sleeve shirt,

holding an umbrella propped open,

though it wasn’t raining at the time and there

wasn’t any hint of rain from looking at the sky,

and rain was not in the forecast for the day.

The sun was out with no clouds

for it to hide behind and the temperature

was comfortable, only in the low eighties.

Covering up with an umbrella

was one method of avoiding getting

sunburned by not allowing the sunshine to

land on his skin denying him of his daily dose

of Vitamin D, but what could I say, I was

in my car as I drove by him, the windows

rolled up with the air conditioner turned on,

other than if I had been walking I would

have worn shorts and a T-shirt along with

a baseball cap to protect my balding head.

Each of us has our own preferred

method of walking on a sunny day,

but I prefer not holding anything in my hands,

other than maybe an ice cream cone

as I stroll along on a nice summer afternoon.

Good Deed

On my early morning walk I passed by

the Walmart parking lot, and as usual

there were plenty of cars in the lot even

though it was only 5:30 in the morning.

Some might have been shopping after getting

off work before heading home while others may have

needed something before they headed off to work.

I was doing neither. I was just on my early

morning walk, my daily ritual when it

wasn’t raining or too terribly cold outside,

and today I noticed the dimmer lights still on

one of the cars in the lot, but I figured it was

just one of the employees who had recently arrived

since the car was on the back side of the lot,

the furthest away from the front doors.

I continued my walk for another two blocks

then returned to go back home.

The car’s dimmer lights were still on,

but I could not see anyone in the front seat

until getting within a few feet of the car finding

that it was still running, and the once upon time

driver was fast asleep in the fully reclined front seat.

I had planned on doing a good deed by

getting the make and license number of the car

to report it to someone working inside

the store to advise that one of their employees’

car lights were still on, but I no longer needed

to do that since that person was still in the car,

but still, I did my good deed anyway, by not waking

him up, letting Sleeping Beauty continue to sleep in peace.

Manual Toothbrush

In today’s Sunday paper there was a

manufacturer’s coupon for a toothbrush,

but it said it was for a manual toothbrush,

not knowing why it just couldn’t be

listed as a toothbrush and would be

differentiated by calling the other kind

an electric toothbrush, though that

probably isn’t really true either?

It is really a battery powered toothbrush

since they aren’t attached to any power cords,

and not knowing if anything such thing

existed as a solar power toothbrush

or a wind power toothbrush.

Did they call other items with the manual

label, for example, like manual hammers,

though I now had a pounding headache

from the woodpecker hammering away on the

tree outside my window.

Duane Anderson currently lives in La Vista, NE. He has had poems published in Fine Lines, Cholla Needles, Tipton Poetry Journal, and several other publications. He is the author of ‘Yes, I Must Admit We Are Neighbors,’ ‘On the Corner of Walk and Don’t Walk,’ and ‘The Blood Drives: One Pint Down.’