The Day of the Deer by Patrick Kindig

This afternoon, while my boyfriend & I
ate lunch on the patio,

we saw a deer emerge from the woods
& take its own green meal. After dinner,

we saw two deer pick their way
along the tree line. Before bed,

a deer cantered across the lawn,
almost invisible in the dark. Our dog

slept on the couch, soft
& gentle as a doe. I do not know

what deer want, but I know today
we have seen them everywhere:

in the grass & in the trees, in
the sculpted clouds. This

morning, when we hiked through
the dry marsh, sunlight flashing

in the brook, my boyfriend
looked down & saw a hollow filled

with deer bones, deer fur, deer ribs
spread out in a fan. Carefully,

he removed his foot from the hollow,
said, this must be an omen

---

Patrick Kindig is assistant professor of English at Tarleton State University. He is the author of the micro-chapbook Dry Spell (Porkbelly Press 2016) and the chapbook all the catholic gods (Seven Kitchens Press 2019) as well as the academic monograph Fascination: Trance, Enchantment, and American Modernity (Louisiana State University Press 2022). His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the American Poetry Review, the Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, Washington Square Review, Copper Nickel, and other journals..