23 Jan 23 The Good the Bad and the Ugly – Snowy Roadside

A Snowy Roadside – Good, Bad, or Ugly?

We continue today with “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Winter.” Winter, as Minnesotans know, comes on hard, and leaves the same way. Harsh driving conditions, all that walk-behind snow-blowing and shoveling, temperatures that freeze tushes, and no amount of cider that will warm the fingertips and toenails. You could call this the “bad.” You could also call it “normal” or “average for this time of year.” Have a quick look at the condition labeled “average” from the Appendix* at the bottom of this Post. Surprising, isn’t it? Or is it?

One winter scene that could be called “normal,” is the frequent deer carcasses along our roadsides. It’s a common sight. One that we pass by as if it were a plastic grocery bag blown up against a fence. Can anything so common be ugly? Good?” A dead dog on the highway, a single, expired raccoon, or a brilliant red fox that will run no more, all have a greater chance of garnering our sympathy than the dead deer that lie on and beside our roadways. This is the subject of today’s offering: a single deer lying dead on the side of a snowy, Forest road. A deeper look. A heart opening. A stare into the path we all must eventually travel.

Waiting on a Snowy Roadside

Waiting on a roadside watching death come to you

broken back limbs gone limp

Less and less your forelegs thrum against the snowbank edge

you drag your hips by inches toward the ridge

extend your neck toward the ragged rim

I almost hear the wrecked beats of your heart

as you haul desperately your ruined body parts

away from me who brought you death

For a moment, you lie still, and I kneel beside

stroking your lovely brown-black hide

You relax under my hand as with a friend

Perhaps you know, somehow, I am.

Stunned and quiet, you cannot name, you cannot guess

what wild eyes they are – brown lakes of infinite wilderness

clouding towards darkness

staring into shaded disappearance

I, too, stare into the void eyes of those who’ve died

My tears upon you, my hand on your side

Now, still you breathe, like all of us

who long for breath and lean toward light.

My boots crush whispers on the snowy white

I step away to give you space

I await the gun coming to me, to my disgrace

wait with you on the snow-pressed road

where no one travels, no one goes

and you and breath parting ways

as we all begin, and no one stays

More and more your breath slows

your head droops side to side

For you there will be no leaping rise

no more stotting, only breath’s slow reprise

For now, I stand expecting the gun

and when it comes, I will take it in hand

to extinguish any dream of a last wild run

But when the gun finally arrives, you have gone

your eyes staring white open lids as over the edge you slip

your slack pink tongue slipped between your delicate lips

Back at your side, I stroke your neck and feel you go

I am so very sorry, yet can’t come close

to what I want to say, and anyway,

my speech is foreign and far away

I want to run with you unbroken as before

or toward that shadow place for what I’ve done

The gun has arrived, but not for you, not for me

for I will leave, and you are free

Background

Why are there so many deer? The main cause is lack of predators. Cougars, wolves, mountain lions… they simply don't exist in the U.S. of A. in the numbers that they once did. Their habitat has grown smaller and smaller, however, this same deforestation that has driven out the predator actually suits the deer better.

• On average, around 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions happen in the U.S. each year.
• Annually, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reports around 2,000 deer-vehicle collisions across the state.
• West Virginia is the state with the greatest number of deer-car accidents. There is a one in 37 odds of a car collision involving a deer. Meanwhile, the least risky is Washington, D.C. at one in 816.
• The Minnesota DNR has a goal of roughly 200,000 deer shot annually through all seasons — including archery, muzzleloader, and special hunts — but hasn't hit that goal for more than a decade. Hunters came close in 2020, at 197,315 deer registered, but haven't topped 200,000 since 2010.
• Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin record some of the highest antlered buck harvest rates in the country, with Pennsylvania topping the charts in 2021 with estimates of 145,320 harvested bucks.
• Although a highly valued species, the white-tailed deer has reached record population levels in many states and will continue to grow. Densities may exceed 40 deer per square mile in some rural areas, and over 100 deer/square mile have been documented near many eastern metropolitan areas.

Exploration 1: If you were forced to define winter as “good,” “bad,” or “ugly,” which would you choose and why? Is winter worthy of two of three, or all three, adjectives?

Exploration 2: Should deer be protected like some species?

Exploration 3: Do you feed deer? Do you have bird feeders that deer may browse in? Why or why not?

Exploration 4: Is the poet romanticizing this scene?

Appendix to this Post – What’s normal?  What’s average?

For the record, here are the averages for Roseau, Minnesota:

Month     High / Low(°F) Rain

January     12° / -9°                      2 days

February    20° / -3°                     2 days

March         33° / 11°                  2 days

In Roseau, the summers are long, warm, and partly cloudy and the winters are frigid, snowy, windy, and mostly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from -2°F to 80°F and is rarely below -24°F or above 88°F.