Night Walk

 

Night Walk

A spotted fawn 
wades the muddy brook. 
As hooves sink into the muck, 
as I blink—holy shit!—she transforms 
into a human.
A girl. 

Barefoot. 
Her nostrils, black. 
Eyes like bullets in my light. 
Her flesh pale, spotted red-brown, 
fawn-color in reverse. 

One breath-cloud by me 
and she turns tail, 
lovely white flag of alarm 
and leaps across the babbling water,
climbs the steep mudbank
to the fallen tree. She’s gone. 

John’s daughter,
shot at school one year ago.
What I saw—should I tell him? 

…..

First published in Rat’s Ass Review thanks to editor Roderick Bates

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@joecottonwood