On the side of the road, the deer looks at his brother and says
Since you’re dead I guess I’ll finally say
the time we had that streamed by
careless and fast like river rapids
the time we had that streamed by
careless and fast like river rapids
was precious to me
as the first warmth of spring
when you feel winter withdraw its teeth from your back
and the tight muscles there unfurl like wings
so your steps feel like nothing at all
I wish we had flown
I wish we had been born from our mothers as birds
to swoop and evade sharp things like death
Something as small and trip sap trickling
down our arms would bind you to me
and trap ourselves together in amber
These were things I did not say to you
They stuck in my throat like the glass in yours
I would’ve been a bird with you, I would’ve been a fish or a honeysuckle vine with you
But we were deer together and now I am.
as the first warmth of spring
when you feel winter withdraw its teeth from your back
and the tight muscles there unfurl like wings
so your steps feel like nothing at all
I wish we had flown
I wish we had been born from our mothers as birds
to swoop and evade sharp things like death
Something as small and trip sap trickling
down our arms would bind you to me
and trap ourselves together in amber
These were things I did not say to you
They stuck in my throat like the glass in yours
I would’ve been a bird with you, I would’ve been a fish or a honeysuckle vine with you
But we were deer together and now I am.
Mike Michelle Altstaetter is an undergraduate at Ohio State Lima hoping to begin a Literary and Textual Studies program for his Masters this fall.
Beaver Magazine 