Even as a kid, he had a sense that
something was askew, something
ajar, something not quite right in

nature. He would run and play
along a creek in the neighborhood
and would stop and look down at

the life in the crystal clear water.
Then he would go to the beach with
the family and his mother would tell

him to be careful in the water and
look out for rusty cans. Once, not
so careful, he cut his foot on the

sharp lid of one of those rusty cans
and had to be rushed off to the
hospital for a tetanus shot. That

was the beginning of what he
would later come to understand
as human hubris and carelessness.

Yesterday he took a walk along a
nature preserve; he looked down
from the newly constructed bridge

to see the wild life — a few pop cans
and a styrofoam cup. He thought of
the TV commercial where the punch

line is “That’s not right,” and thought
to himself and when he got back to the
car and closed the door shouted,

That’s not right!