The Scavengers: Houston, February 2021

Abstract

The ScavengersHouston, February 2021 Amanda Auchter (bio) Keywords poetry, Amanda, Auchter, nature, snow, animals, camping, scavengers We placed the lantern in the snowbecause we wanted beautythere. It was the second nightof animal tracks across the lawn.The lantern was small, a battery inside.The snow was neutral to our coldness,to the way we melted iciclesto drink, to flush our toilets. We keptvigil with the lantern, fed the scavengers,watched the sky blue. We were hungry.Animals holding the light for heat,scratching the garden rot. Thiswas a new silence—the fire we failedto make, the lantern between the azaleas,water in a teacup. The snow, shaggyin the pines. The scavengers returnedeach night for scraps of oatmeal, raisins,the lantern’s faded light. Whatever survivalthey could pick up and carry away. [End Page 393] Amanda Auchter amanda auchter is the author of The Wishing Tomb, winner of the 2013 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry and the 2012 Perugia Press Book Award, and The Glass Crib, winner of the 2010 Zone 3 Press First Book Award for Poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming at The Huffington Post, CNN, American Poetry Review, North American Review, Shenandoah, Tahoma Review, and the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day project. Copyright © 2022 The Massachusetts Review, Inc