Day 16, Poet 16: Kelli Russell Agodon

Photo by Ronda Broatch

Hunter’s Moon
 
The first person you fall in love with
will be a deer. You will want to cradle him,
but his instinct is to vanish. Scuttle. Scurry.
He may lie down at the end of the forest
in the sorrel, but you won’t ever see him
even with the binoculars you bring into the wild.
Perhaps, he’ll disappear on a trail beside you,
and you may be charmed by his departure.
He is worried about your heart spear, what you keep
hidden, but you are not a hunter, you are just tired
of walking alone through this night.


Previously published in Waxwing. 
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Kelli Russell Agodon is the author of six books and is the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press where she works as an editor and book cover designer. Her most recent book, Hourglass Museum, was a Finalist for the Washington State Book Awards and shortlisted for the Julie Suk Poetry Prize, and second book, Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room was chosen for the Foreword Book of the Year Prize for poetry. Kelli is also the Co-Director of Poets on the Coast, a yearly writing retreat for women that takes place in La Conner, Washington. She is an avid paddleboarder and hiker who has a fondness for vinyl records and hammocks. She lives in a sleepy seaside town a ferry ride away from Seattle. www.agodon.com / www.twosylviaspress.com