An Acrid Smell

bad as Mexico, Maine
as you come into town
along the river
glimpsed through roadside
trees, the
Androscoggin;
stately brick mill-built
factory houses, huge
boulder at side of road
impossible height of smokestacks
in puff-ball clouds
orange & blue--
a guy snarled at me
in the Quik-Stop parking lot
did not like my Vermont
license plate I guessed
or maybe just me;
I blew that pop-stand
for New Hampshire and
White Mountain straightaways
at 80 mph
a great gray heron flew
out of woods and
over the car
knobby knees, legs
folded
huge wingspan
pearl gray feathers--
a folded card table
with bill--
soon as I entered Vermont
got stopped by kid Statie-cop
wrote me up at 10 miles over
not the actual 20--
I forgot to thank him
for that.