Peter Phillips
The Deer
Threadbare sheets spread
over the land, thin shadows
falling to the ground.
Edged from the scruff of the forest,
a deer raises her head, sniffs the silence,
hesitant out of the trees,
model girl steps into sight.
I screw my eyes, see a man lean forward
hesitate against sallow air, his feet
lost in worried furrows of the field.
His gun follows the deer, traces
geometry of her legs, back and neck.
He fires. His gun jerks skywards.
She drops,
and he blows into his hands,
breaks open his gun and goes on.
Later sipping his beer,
he peers into the sky of its pale head,
drinks it down, licks his lips.
Peter Phillips' pamphlet collection, Frayed at the Edges, was published in 1997 and his first full collection, Looking For You, in 2001, both by Hearing Eye.
Page(s) 52
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