The Deer

There is a clearing in my mind

it is blue and smells like a lake

I go there.

I put my toes in, I put my feet in,

I put my ankles in, I put my legs in,

I put my knees in, I put my waist in,

I put my face in, I put my brain in,

I let my hair float around me,

I let my eyes float out of my head,

I let the dark come down around my eyes,

I let the dark come down around my brain like falling trees,

the spasms of their falling shake me,

I let the grief lift out of me,

I let the shaking lift,

I am in a room with 20 people

I am in a building with 200 people

I am in a city with 300,000 people

I am alone as a deer.

WENDY BURK