Deer in the Road by Monika Rose

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Deer in the Road
by
Monika Rose

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

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.

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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