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Deer in the Road
by
Monika Rose


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A doe flashes through the brush
stops, ears raised, and
point blank stares at me
 
I brake and stop dead
only a few feet away,
engine off,
silence
—a cord
 
I call out her deer name
through the open window
addressing that verdant desire
to speak in animal tongue
and meld into lush overgrowth
 
She listens intently
her ears flicker
eyes darken
nostrils flare
 
She resumes nibble
of scrub oak shoots
for what must be
my benefit, to put me at ease
as if to say, "I forgive you
your trespasses."
 
I start the car and she nimbly
shows off her back side
blends into brush
without a backward glance at the place
where near-accident and nature join
 

© by Monika Rose.
Used with the author's permission.

 


Monika Rose, from the Mother Lode foothill region of Calaveras County, California, edits the Manzanita: Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra series of anthologies and runs a nonprofit literary press. Widely published in journals and anthologies, Monika is currently working on a digital project that combines her poetry with her piano compositions, photography and film clips. She is also in the midst of writing a humorous thriller—a novel about surveillance and voyeurism—and a historical novel based on her parents’ WWII war stories in Europe. In between, Monika teaches full-time high school English in Lodi and as an associate professor adjunct at San Joaquin Delta College. Learn more about her at www.monikarosewriter.com.

 

 


Post New Comment:
Stargazer:
When we encounter the wild ones we are blessed. Loved the poem.
Posted 10/06/2013 07:34 PM
Dorcas:
You are in the deer's path. You are lucky. You are the accident, she from nature.
Posted 10/06/2013 07:09 AM
Ross Kightly:
Encounters with reminders of our kinship with beasts are so evocative - if only animals were truly as much in control as this creature is shown to be! Such a powerful poem.
Posted 10/04/2013 02:41 AM
TheSilverOne:
A moment I've experienced, put into words so eloquently.
Posted 10/03/2013 08:05 AM


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