{"id":5443,"date":"2013-09-06T20:49:45","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T20:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=5443"},"modified":"2013-09-06T20:49:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T20:49:45","slug":"slice-of-solace-deerstruck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2013\/09\/slice-of-solace-deerstruck\/","title":{"rendered":"Slice of solace: Deerstruck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deerstruck<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lately I\u2019ve been seeking out deer<\/p>\n

going to the forest preserves at dusk,<\/p>\n

driving slowly down Lagoon Drive,<\/p>\n

always on the lookout<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do deer have any other expression<\/p>\n

besides startled?\u00a0 Does a deer,<\/p>\n

like a dog, smile with its tail?<\/p>\n

Joyful flicker, bunny-hop, pom-pom trick.<\/p>\n

It cavorts away.<\/p>\n

No wonder it\u2019s called a hind<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Which animals are most Buddhist?<\/p>\n

Is the deer serene in manic alertness<\/p>\n

or is it a sloth who understands best<\/p>\n

that life is suffering?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u00a0 about deer so intrigues me?<\/p>\n

Its long stare reaching,<\/p>\n

reaching out like the toll of a bell?<\/p>\n

Those bones branching out of their heads<\/p>\n

or the velveteen buds for them?<\/p>\n

What makes me look for them,<\/p>\n

hope our paths meet but not collide?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What of the child raised by deer<\/p>\n

mute as a mushroom,<\/p>\n

alert as the tick-tock of a watch,<\/p>\n

the child whose stare never wavered,<\/p>\n

the skittish kid who\u2019d rather run?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t imagine there was ever such a\u00a0 story<\/p>\n

though up in Lapland some child<\/p>\n

may dream of running with the herd.<\/p>\n

Me? — I\u2019m\u00a0 just a woman collecting<\/p>\n

deer like beads on a necklace,<\/p>\n

racking up each glimpse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their wariness is precious<\/p>\n

I want to wear this heightened sense,<\/p>\n

I want to pocket their endless stares<\/p>\n

like how I want to remember<\/p>\n

the first time I caught your eye.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This poem originally appeared on The Poetry Mill blogspot. <\/a><\/span><\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deerstruck Lately I\u2019ve been seeking out deer going to the forest preserves at dusk, driving slowly down Lagoon Drive, always on the lookout   Do deer have any other expression besides startled?\u00a0 Does a deer, like a dog, smile with its tail? Joyful flicker, bunny-hop, pom-pom trick. It cavorts away. No wonder it\u2019s called a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1736,1735,12,1737,13,556,7,16,1734,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-5443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-a-slice-of-solace","7":"tag-deer","8":"tag-deerstruck","9":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","10":"tag-nature-poetry","11":"tag-poetry","12":"tag-slice-of-solace","13":"tag-solace","14":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","15":"tag-the-poetry-mill-blogspot","16":"tag-weighed-words","17":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5443"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5456,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5443\/revisions\/5456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}