Penetrating. Passionate. Beautiful. So few care for the other denizens of our world. I love this. I KNEW I needed to read some Burnside today.

Thanks Kate,
Keith

Most enganging, Kate. Your poetry always is. Meaningful on levels that the reader may choose. I cycle around "my" mountain every day in summer and as much as the weather will allow during the rest of the year. Sadly, I see squirrels, chipmunks, opposums etc... ...that did not make it. Love and best wishes to you,

Regis

Hi Kate,

interesting poem. I find myself wanting to challenge you on it (a good thing!), to argue that a sudden death might be preferable to a drawn out one. And then I wonder why faith in something 'other' might be undone by "sudden death". But I do understand why the mess of a road-kill is a challenge. It seems, initially at least, so pointless -- no one benefits from it. Apart from crows and flies and other carrion of course. Which brings me back to my earlier cynicism -- seen from a broader perspective, a little further away perhaps than the bright mess on the tarmac, even road-kill makes sense, fits in. Life as an ongoing process seems to me to be brutally resilient and utterly unconcerned with our sensibilities.
So your poem got me thinking. I like thinking.
Peace
Toby

Kate, this is full of feeling and the language you use is rich. Did you see that Chritain Bale movie where he picks up roadkill? What a great movie that is. What a great poet you are. Check out my poetry as I would respect your comments.

powerful ... craftily captured ...

...excellent Kate...the honesty of your write...brings many images to ones mind...we have all perhaps seen the unfortunate unstuffed heap you detail...wishing we had not.
wonderful poetic conscience Kate...
John

Compassionate, putting them back where they belong
with your words. Respect and contained emotion.
There's a poem in my port with the same title
and some questions feel familiar.

Axilea

Brings to mind all the Roo's and Wallabies/wombats that get cleaned up on the road..Sad, awful subject, but you have done it justice..all silently roll to the side, here you give them a place where no burial plot allows them such...Ty dearest Kate. Wonderful xxx Ch'erie

Sad...but written in a way that only you can, Kate.

"Seeing it there, desecrated;
defining in smashed bone and blood
it’s patch of holy ground,

my eyes are pricked with burning,
snared by need for faith
in something

more than sudden death."

Kate....a social poem for sure....heartbreaking write...but as usual you have written it so well...getting better and better with each write of yours....cheers...love n luck...BHUWAN

Awesome writing with a peek into the writers heart and soul

Have to agree with Jerry again. we all end up like this.
Reminded me of my time in Texas. and all the poor armadillo corpses that littered the roads and highways at night.
Compelling and thought provoking work Kate as ever !
Love and Blessings

Once i saw a run over cat, and it's insides were all hanging out of it's mouth, horrific-looking, and made you think of the trememdous pressure of the tyres that squeezed out its innards so completely.
Your poem, Kate, reminded me of that poor cat. best wishes kenny

See? That's why I was away for a somewhat looooooooong stretch, dear heart. So you could have space to go from brilliant, mind and heart-touching poet to communing philosopher.

Wait! Wait! You were those things when I left. sigh...

As usual, I'm sposed to encapsulate my bursting emotions into this teeny space and somehow tell you that you have once-again reached into my core and collapsed me altogether with mere language.

God, how I've missed you, ms. kate... me ole sweetie. You write, I visualize, feel, and internalize the words and what always lies behind the words.

How would you like to just have the rest of us sit quietly so you could teach the world to pay attention to itself. This poem got me inside AND out. katy (of course) xox

Oh! this is haunting... what a subject you chose... The parable of the unstuffed...

Nature's wild (Wilde?) animals, pets, beggars, aged men and women, veterans... little match-girls and a statue of the Happy Prince... that's what comes to mind.

Paraphrasing here:
"Bring me the most precious things in the city" said God to one of his angels. And he brought him the broken heart and the dead bird. "You have rightly chosen" he said. "For in my Garden of Paradise, the little bird will sing forevermore, and the Happy Prince will praise me."

Honestly Kate, you said just as much with just a few short lines. This brought out the humanity in all of your readers. Remarkable. --Charlie

Kate,, Last summer when I was walking I saw a dead fox on the road,,,cars were driving over it like it was nothing,, it seemed so disrespectful,,,,, I tied some reeds together, wraped it around the fox,, and rested it in a field of flowers. Your write takes me back.
wonderful job,, :)
Love, Christine

We kick people to the side of the road too, here in the United States. Excellent write. Liz

I too share a wonder and compassion for animal life. Thank you for this timely reminder of what happens in this modern age of speed and non loving and care.
As a note I drove to my sons place to get the grandchildren to school. In front of my car was a newly dead kangaroo hit by a car and thrown to the footpath. I got out to check it was dead and to pull it aside so other small people would not have to pass it. One grandchild said*Ewl! You touched a dead thing. How could you?* The other child, weeping and sad said *Why?"

Only you, Kate, could construct a classy poem about such a topic. :)

G'day Kate, I love your poem, I speak from 25 years of driving our Australian highways & bush tracks, the feeling of helplessness & guilt never gets easier or goes away when you can't avoid killing some animal that has entered your path, unfortunately in todays society 99% of it is unavoidable. I could write a page on the pro's & con's of road kill, I can understand the feeling when someone once or twice in their lifetime kills an animal on the road, then I also know the feeling of a profesional driver, who in their line of work faces this on a regular basis.
Overall I love your poem.
Dave.

It breaks my heart when I see a little crrature dead on the side of the road as I wonder did the person even stop to make sure it wasn't suffering, but as Fee says commuters are too quick to ignor them. Thank you for sharing your words Kate.

Newfie Hugs, Rose

Here in Canada due to the abundance of wildlife furry little dead things on the side of the road are almost unnoticed by commuters in the mad rush to get from city to city. Yet when a squirrel perches on a park bench...people go goo goo. Go figure. Good write sweet KATE. HUGS
fEE

A sad and sickening scene that all of us
have experienced and as yet have arrived at
no satisfactory solution except...slow down.
You write of it so well, Kate. - gene.

A need for faith in something more than sudden death - that would truly be a welcome commodity these days, Kate. I doubt one day goes by now, where I don't see Road Kill of some kind on my travels, and even sadder, most people just merrily go on their way, very often not even realizing what's just happened.

Kate,

So swift is the pace that decides life or death. It takes only a few seconds for an eternity to be swept away. Outstanding write my friend. Peace, Love and Blessings Always, Paul.

Well executed Kate (oops, a pun)! Hard images presented with great skill - make this one a good candidate for publication. Send it out. I will bet anything it is snapped up.

Ted

Kate, reading these words I could sense your feelings and the hurt that "still" encompassed your heart. Each line detailed visual images that this reader could see and your lines, "Seeing it there, desecrated; defining in smashed bone and blood...it's patch of holy ground." Oh, how touching and sad! Why does sudden death appear to hurt us so bad? You've penned a writing that became a reality in this readers mind. An exceptional write.

Powerful write my friend...always sends a pain of sorrow to my heart when I see where a poor animal has lost it's life...sad : <(
Blessings,
Joyce B.

Heartbreaking write, Kate; very well penned!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tx., Karen Lynn. :(

Oh it always turns my stomach to see that.

~Gwendolyn

Powerful benediction for our poor helpless animals.

i hope this comes out rightly, but you seem to pose such big questions for such 'small earnest' writes; how every thought seems to be aching....seems to be prodding into the soul for some deeper t.issues. .. real answers. . .to every.thing. ...
i wish i wish. .. .
to write this BIG someday.
ness

I have had the same kind of feelings Kate. Your insight and ability to pen it is amazing.

This one is sad, Kate, and very well penned - well done -

(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.

This is so well expressed-i see the same from tiny skunks to regal deer almost daily --it saddens me so-i wish we could just slow down the pace--your final lines sum things up so well

Great read Kate...I like the question of life in the presence of death

I have seen this, of course many times myself . . . At the end we are all just meat . . .