Box Turtle by Jean Ryan

Found a box turtle today
butted up against the curb,
so I slipped my hands under
the hard plate of her smooth belly
and lifted her onto the grass,
a move she seemed fine with,
keeping her blunt head free
of its checkered vault.

Walking away, I kept looking back
at her stillness.
Was she was watching me too,
halted by curiosity,
or simply yielding
to the unbroken moment
of her life?

Turtles, manatees, sloths, snails—
the slow ones undo me,
mercy being their only chance
in a world better off without us.



Jean Ryan, a native Vermonter, lives in coastal Alabama. She is the author of two short story collections, Survival Skills and Lovers and Loners. She has also published a novel, Lost Sister, a book of nature essays, Strange Company, and a poetry collection, A Day Like This. https://jean-ryan.com/