Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEER IN THE MISTY WOODLOT, by FRED LAPE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEER IN THE MISTY WOODLOT, by                    
First Line: My feet were held by grasses bent with snow
Last Line: Curtains of life, running into the clear.
Subject(s): Deer; Forests; Woods


My feet were held by grasses bent with snow
so moist it clung. The fog was like a hood
over my head and shoulders. Where the row
of cherry met the woodlot, hemlocks stood
with lines of spires like saw teeth in the mist.
I walked into the quiet outdoor room
and saw a clump of snow let go and twist
a lower branch and wave it like a plume.

Sudden commotion stirred the underbrush
growing around a group of rotting stumps.
Three deer had turned with a concerted rush
and bolted down the hill. I saw their rumps
flash white, the hoofs touch ground and spring
from it, and where the heavy snow still clung
to boughs, the boughs freed once again to swing.

The woods were quiet afterward; mist was sifting
among the trees. Far off I heard the deer
like powers that work and weave behind the shifting
curtains of life, running into the clear.





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