Nancy Devine

BACK FROM VACATION

Just east of Crookston, Minnesota,
a bird’s tail feathers caught in a high line wire;
she (or he?) flaps wings, goes nowhere as
I drive by.
Why does every hurting animal have to be a metaphor
for this damned world? I don’t stop.

Earlier in the week, a chipmunk's on its back,
lifting its head to see
what our dogs have done, where’d they go?
I beg my husband, "do something," me wringing my hands,
me wringing this poem.

Nancy Devine teaches high school English in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where she lives with her husband Chuck and their two dogs. She co-directs the Red River Valley Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project. Her poems, short fiction and essays have appeared in online and print journals. In 2007, she was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.