Yes Deer.

Through my window
the scent of cool night air
and dandelion reconnaissance

Out there — a place

As if someone were thrown down
into the grass
No clown nightmare
In the middle of the night
Nothing the neighbors would have seen
except they might
have learned new things

Except it was just two deer. Really.

No memory of
Lucy in the sky
touching up her lipstick
tightening up her stocking
I, on my knees
her fingers through my hair,
No moment when
she grabs my head and says
‘All your life.’

It was just two deer in the night. That’s what they said.

And I’m chasing from my head
still vivid color and shape
vibrating in resonance
two of us, imagined.

Women come.
Women go.

Two hearts locked in time burn slow
the moment where and when
you and I
eclipsed the sun
and shared a secret smile.

It was all just a dream
in which I learned to survive.
And was happy. It didn’t happen.

The rest is classified need to know
You need to show
clearance.
The official story
— two deer out there in the distance.
We’re sticking with it.

We didn’t happen.
All my tomorrows
become liquid iron
and the glass holds the reflection
of the numbers
eight. nine. ten.
They’re just numbers.

It was just two deer.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Behold her.
Against the night sky
Going down.
Every part close.
Closer.

There is nothing more beautiful in the world
than a girl in love
every breath she takes
her chest rising and falling
in soft grass
holding hands
we made our way home

I tell her a deer joke.
She’s not a fawn.