Annmarie Lockhart, editor of vox poetica, has been reading and writing poetry since she could read and write. A lifelong Bergen County resident, she lives two miles from the hospital
where she was born.
Nels Hanson has worked as a farmer, teacher, and contract writer/editor. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Montana, and his fiction received the San Francisco Foundation's James D Phelan Award. His stories have appeared in Antioch Review, Texas Review, Black Warrior Review, Southeast Review, Montreal Review, and other journals. Poems have appeared in Big Moon, Language and Culture, Angelfire, and Symmetry Pebbles. Nels lives with his wife, Vicki, on the Central Coast of California. This poem is from an unpublished manuscript, "What the Lizard Said," designed for kids and adults to read together.
The Deer Grows Older By Nels Hanson
I'm born a fawn—in meadow light My coat glows tawny, speckled, white. I didn't give myself the name But antlers grow, the fawn remains.
With tender heart black nose, large eyes, Fur like silk—I've no dark skies Except for clouds of human hunters Spouting fire, then sudden thunder.
"Gentle as a deer," man likes to say And speaks the truth: Love is my way My secret war. A hidden unicorn, I feel a single, twisting thorn
That grows and spirals endless years Until one day between bright ears It sprouts and shines like precious gold When love is born and I am old.
This is magical!
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Lyrical beauty.
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