Deer Visit

by Martha Zweig

Early, two does find their way through
vines & oak scrub almost to the stony
edge, ocean bluff tufts. Their brown
flanks brush some big berries
loose that they don't notice.
It's a new place; in it they
resemble each other so anything
watching can't quite pick which one.

This is the closest they come
to the ocean of business, its waves
rattling through the pebbles and vacant shells,
but most of their lives its
dickering just reaches them, even
inland after they've gone back.
The herd has good luck, there's browse
enough all winter, then six promising fawns.

-- MZ
©1998 Martha Zweig

Martha Zweig is an award-winning poet who has published poems in many literary journals across the country. In 1998 she received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College. Her new collection of poems, Vinegar Bone, will be released in early 1999 by Wesleyan University Press. Ms. Zweig currently lives in Hardwick, Vermont.