Nels Hanson has worked as a farmer, teacher, and contract writer/editor. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Montana, and his fiction received the San Francisco Foundation’s James D Phelan Award. His stories have appeared in Antioch Review, Texas Review, Black Warrior Review, Southeast Review, Montreal Review, and other journals. Poems have appeared in Big Moon, Language and Culture, Angelfire, and Symmetry Pebbles. Nels lives with his wife, Vicki, on the Central Coast of California. This poem is from an unpublished manuscript, “What the Lizard Said,” designed for kids and adults to read together.
The Deer Grows Older
By Nels Hanson
The Deer Grows Older
By Nels Hanson
I’m born a fawn–in
meadow light
My coat glows tawny,
speckled, white.
I didn’t give myself
the name
But antlers grow,
the fawn remains.
With tender heart
black nose, large eyes,
Fur like silk–I’ve
no dark skies
Except for clouds of
human hunters
Spouting fire, then
sudden thunder.
“Gentle as a deer,”
man likes to say
And speaks the
truth: Love is my way
My secret war. A
hidden unicorn,
I feel a single,
twisting thorn
That grows and
spirals endless years
Until one day
between bright ears
It sprouts and
shines like precious gold
When love is born
and I am old.
This is magical! š
Lyrical beauty.
Deep poem…Beautifully put into words.