The Hopes of Snakes docx

[...]... many fledge The birds are what is called an “indicator species”—as they are at the top of the food chain in their environment, their health indicates the health of the estuary reversing the tides 5 6 Across from the heronry and the seagull nest, on the New Jersey side of the Kill, the giants of the oil and chemical companies— DuPont, CITGO, American Cyanamid, Exxon, and others—make house Their huge... at the ends of Esther’s toes, talons she uses to snatch rodents, bats, and birds out of life, talons that plunge into the torso of a mouse and pin it to the forest floor, enabling Esther to make the fatal bite at the base of the mouse’s skull with the other knife of her body, her sharp, hooked beak The children are focused simply on holding Esther, whispering to Esther And Esther, sleepy Esther the. .. it is also the case that the New York and Washington metro areas, both part of the Northeastern megalopolis, support similar life forms Washington delineates the lower part of the Northeastern corridor and New York the middle, while the upper reach would be Boston, birthplace of my parents and home to members of my extended Irish-American the hopes of snakes family, a few of whom appear in these stories... orange on the river in early evening, flocks of the hopes of snakes starlings or sparrows exploded out from the park’s trees and circled out over the water as though they were riding an airborne roller coaster They flew back over me, their wings beating against their bodies, and returned to the park As the sky darkened, the birds settled in for the night and I began my walk home, envious that the birds,... on the bow, where rows of chairs and benches provide vacationers the opportunity to stare into the flood of thought that oceans inspire The simplicity of the interior, with several large beams running across the ceiling, reminded me of my vision of Noah’s Ark, wherein Noah saved animals no matter their state of cleanliness His story, it seemed to me, spoke through the power of metaphor to the idea of. .. feels the world enter: through memory and patterns of experience; through those we come to know and love as well as those we’ve loved so long; through the sensuality of the land and the stories of its inhabitants Out there is a world ready to ride through us, to hoof its way straight to the veins or to meander over the muscles, like the slow passing of dark thunder clouds Though the stories in The Hopes. .. the tall, lime green salt-marsh grasses, while their smokestacks spew out EPAapproved amounts of waste into the air over the marsh The history of the Arthur Kill, like that of the East River, should render it essentially lifeless from centuries of oil spills, raw sewage, and chemical dumping The soft turf of the marsh has absorbed, and will continue to absorb, numerous oil spills that have caused the. .. Manhattan; and Esther, all of a pound heavy, will perch on the thin arms of these children in front of an audience of hundreds gathered under a big white outdoor tent Esther will hold on with her four powerful toes, two of which can turn forward and two backward It doesn’t appear to matter to the children that soon their skin will be lightly pricked with the weapons of an owl’s body the long, curved,... the river’s side I walked along a tar path that began at the end of my street and wound through a manicured park, around the mayor’s mansion, and over a small grassy hill Coming to the top of the hill, I always anticipated what the water would be like at my favorite spot on the river—Hell Gate, named so for the tangling of 1 2 tides that mix here: the Atlantic tide travels up the Manhattan arm of the. .. when we had the privacy, the time, and the energy to chew on our emotions, when we had the guts to love animals the way children do: unashamedly, fearlessly, joyously I feel the need to dig up my bones while I am here, at Birds of Prey Day After Esther’s show under the big white tent, a naturalist gives a short lecture about the lives of raptors and about why some species the hopes of snakes are declining . members of my extended Irish-American the hopes of snakes xii family, a few of whom appear in these stories here and there. The suburbs of Washington and the. class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" The Hopes of Snakes