Box step

Rescuing a small box turtle from the side of the road may seem like an easy task -- but hold on! Do you really know how to do it? Don't touch that turtle! Do you know why? Before you wreck an innocent turtle's sex life forever, see these photos and read the blog -- it may change your life and the life of a turtle you love forever. Words and images and wildlife conservation, at blog.amynelsonhahn.info -- keep clicking on those ads, folks! We need to make the blog even bloggier!

The rescue
(for Tricia)

And after having heard
long-whispered tales
of your snapping cousins,
you trawl along the road
the first of our scorching days
like a maid in petticoats
tied to the tracks,
your once-sovereign shell
about to be cracked -- so that, softly
and with proper dignity utmost,
we scoop your oval shelter
and your seeming self inside
to the nearest tide and wait
for you to signal "Hail,
good brothers!"
But you merely slide
into the mud
after having heard
the distant tales
of lonely turtles
and fearsome birds.
Copyright (c) 2012 Amy Nelson Hahn

view with images P41601295, P46012895, P4601315, P4601305, and P4601335  from photos.amynelsonhahn.info or visit blog.amynelsonhahn.info