Great photo! I once saw six deer go across my backyard. Just magical to see them so close. I wish they weren’t so skittish. I’d bring them some carrots or something, but they run away if you go anywhere near them.
I love that 125,000 years after we evolved and followed the deer herds as we migrated across the planet, deer still elicit a primeval response from our collective psyches. That connection to the rest of Gaia is still there in these globalised, citified, commodified days, albeit a bit fuzzy.
I was on a bike ride around the local lake a long time ago and came around a bend going up a hill and found myself face to face with a faun. I guess it was used to people because I reached out and touched its head before it bounded off to find mom. It is one of my favorite memories.
Remember Ellen’s old routine where she talks about being close to a deer and wishing she had a gun, but since she doesn’t have a gun she is going to hit it in the head with the spoon from her breakfast cereal…!!
in a silky agitation,
went leaping
down into the shadows
of the bog
and together
across the bog
and up the hill
and into some dense trees –
but once,
years ago,
in some kind of rapturous mistake,
the deer did not run away
but walked toward me
and touched my hands –
and I have been, ever since,
separated from my old, comfortable life
of experience and deduction –
I have been, ever since,
exalted –
and even now,
though I miss the world
I would not go back –
I would not be anywhere else
but stalled in the happiness
of the the miracle –
every morning I stroll out into the fields,
I believe in everything –
I believe in anything –
even if the deer are wild again
I am still standing under the dark trees,
they are still walking toward me.
On the other side, my dog&yoga buddy and i are were sad to mark the passing of a predator that has been living in the ravine where we walk our dogs. The coyote is dead – we don’t know how, but the body is there and our dogs are both distant and curious as they go by. Spotting – or more accurately – being spotted by the coyote has made some days very special for me – and my dog – over the last year or so. So wild, so close, so dog of all dogs: utterly quiet and self-possessed, his gaze the opposite of any deer’s.
I was suddenly face to face with a deer in my yard a couple of years ago..only 2 yards apart. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, then I couldn’t resist saying, “Did you eat my hollyhocks?” And, get this, it stomped one foot! Then it turned and ran away.
OT, I’d like to shout out to Mark C, I got “Moxie My Sweet,” thank you so much! Am really enjoying the comics!
I have enjoyed Mary Oliver’s poems too (though I haven’t read much of her new work), but I wish she’d come out, been more visible as a lesbian, sooner. I wonder if it had to do wish her age, her personality, or a fear of losing readers.
Does her work seem to have less of a range than it used to? Any development in style or form?
I hadn’t realised that Mary Oliver was the author of “The Journey”, a printout of which was given to me at the women’s shelter when I was staying there. And now I can’t even remember the name of the woman who took the time to talk to me, personally, not a shelter worker, just another woman. For now, for here and everywhere, I send out my THANK YOU.
28 Responses to “afternoon faun”
still re-organizing, working towards the getting-back-into-the-work-itself moment. this, the perfect gift. she / he’s beautiful. thank you.
writing the first comment feels auspicious, somehow. pressure!
wow, utterly gorgeous!
was a grey rabbit with irritating tendencies to fancy footwork nearby?
Great photo! I once saw six deer go across my backyard. Just magical to see them so close. I wish they weren’t so skittish. I’d bring them some carrots or something, but they run away if you go anywhere near them.
OMG…it doesn’t look real! How gorgeous.
She looks like she could fly away on those ears. (I have no idea of the creature’s gender, BTW.)
Oh, man. Those ears!
Someone needs to copy it to LOLCats and caption it with
Hav U seen mai muvver?
(Little Gator…)
Ah,I see y’all are fawning over her/him.
My hiking companions and I recently spotted a fawn and a doe,looking at us innocently from about 100 ft. away. A true Bambi moment.
Thank you. A moment out of time.
The choice of the “u” spelling is lovely.
Lovely. Debussy, anyone? (With Nureyev . . .)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncz-D1Vf13M
Ha! Flora and fauna…
awe. i’ve never seen a deer look more like bambi.
I love that 125,000 years after we evolved and followed the deer herds as we migrated across the planet, deer still elicit a primeval response from our collective psyches. That connection to the rest of Gaia is still there in these globalised, citified, commodified days, albeit a bit fuzzy.
right on, ian!
awwww…
I was on a bike ride around the local lake a long time ago and came around a bend going up a hill and found myself face to face with a faun. I guess it was used to people because I reached out and touched its head before it bounded off to find mom. It is one of my favorite memories.
Remember Ellen’s old routine where she talks about being close to a deer and wishing she had a gun, but since she doesn’t have a gun she is going to hit it in the head with the spoon from her breakfast cereal…!!
The dull explosion was the sound of Dick Cheney trying to shoot it through his screen. “Must kill pretty.”
Ian, and ksbel6, you made me think of this:
The Pinewoods
by Mary Oliver
This morning
two deer
in the five a.m. mist,
in a silky agitation,
went leaping
down into the shadows
of the bog
and together
across the bog
and up the hill
and into some dense trees –
but once,
years ago,
in some kind of rapturous mistake,
the deer did not run away
but walked toward me
and touched my hands –
and I have been, ever since,
separated from my old, comfortable life
of experience and deduction –
I have been, ever since,
exalted –
and even now,
though I miss the world
I would not go back –
I would not be anywhere else
but stalled in the happiness
of the the miracle –
every morning I stroll out into the fields,
I believe in everything –
I believe in anything –
even if the deer are wild again
I am still standing under the dark trees,
they are still walking toward me.
It’s a hypnodeer! Run, Alison, run!!!
On the other side, my dog&yoga buddy and i are were sad to mark the passing of a predator that has been living in the ravine where we walk our dogs. The coyote is dead – we don’t know how, but the body is there and our dogs are both distant and curious as they go by. Spotting – or more accurately – being spotted by the coyote has made some days very special for me – and my dog – over the last year or so. So wild, so close, so dog of all dogs: utterly quiet and self-possessed, his gaze the opposite of any deer’s.
Thanks AB. It was a more profound response than my first immature response of “Mmmmmm, venison & apple burgers” …
I was suddenly face to face with a deer in my yard a couple of years ago..only 2 yards apart. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever, then I couldn’t resist saying, “Did you eat my hollyhocks?” And, get this, it stomped one foot! Then it turned and ran away.
OT, I’d like to shout out to Mark C, I got “Moxie My Sweet,” thank you so much! Am really enjoying the comics!
Ahh, Lurker. Thanks for that. I love Mary Oliver.
“I have been, ever since / exalted . . .”
Beautiful.
You’re welcome, NickelJoey. I love her too, and particularly that very line you quoted.
I have enjoyed Mary Oliver’s poems too (though I haven’t read much of her new work), but I wish she’d come out, been more visible as a lesbian, sooner. I wonder if it had to do wish her age, her personality, or a fear of losing readers.
Does her work seem to have less of a range than it used to? Any development in style or form?
Oh, and I hadn’t known the word “faun” before. Thanks for the playful, thoughtful wording. May animal deities abound.
I hadn’t realised that Mary Oliver was the author of “The Journey”, a printout of which was given to me at the women’s shelter when I was staying there. And now I can’t even remember the name of the woman who took the time to talk to me, personally, not a shelter worker, just another woman. For now, for here and everywhere, I send out my THANK YOU.