David Hightower - Appalachian - Americana - The Deer - poetry -wildlife
THE DEER
From my porch I watch the deer
float with an unearthly motion
across fenced boundaries.
They drift into evening’s blue forest,
flicker like shadows of light
through columns of silence.
They settle light as butterflies
among the tilted stones
of the overgrown cemetery.
A timid gathering of ghosts,
they nibble at the light of the moon.
What I would give to live out in the country to watch this beatuiful scene. My father and I would go out in the late evenings, find ou favorite tree and watch the deer come in. Why anyone would want to shoot and kill a beautiful creature is beyond me.
This has so much meaning for me, David, as I'm sorrounded by Sika deer here on my Dorset heathland. You have "captured" their spectral qualities and gentleness vividly and with hallowed lines that speak of an awe and respect to which I can heartily relate:
flicker like shadows of light
through columns of silence...
and especially:
A timid gathering of ghosts,
they nibble at the light of the moon.
- which is divine! Thank you for this beautiful encounter so delicately rendered. xx
I'm very impressed with the imagery that your words have painted. I really loved the quote on your profile. I'm still hearing that music, only now I've learned to keep it to myself!
David, perhaps a part of the soft beauty of this poem for me is its familiarty, the movement of deer I have seen so many times before although you carry the appreciation to a new height. It is incredible how light-footed they appear. I like your ethereal appeal, too. Timid ghosts nibbling at the light of the moon, a beautiul haunting expression........Jerry
I can say from living up here in the Ocala Forest, that your poetry really does capture the fleeting ghost-like movements they must make as they strive to feed and live "in the night" - there is no safety for them during the day. A beautiful rustic poem...
best, michael
David, your rendering touches the flow of sensitive emotions only a man intimate with the ways of nature would know -- a man who is appreciative of the most wonderful of God's gifts -- to know where the switch of emotions is turned on silently, joyfully, is to know the way to eternal peace -- your work, this rendering is typical of your great poetic talents David -- it is a poem I read, and when finished felt sated with enjoyment -- thank you for sharing your talents with us -- may joy, peace and love be yours in great abundance my friend -- Jon Michael
This poem is as soft as the deer you paint. Your tones are soft and muted, and I especially love that n-l-m marriage at the end (mmmm, lovely liquids!) The irony of this poem, is that the noisiest word in the entire piece is the word "silence" with its screaming "i" and sustained hiss of "s"es. It's caught there in the middle of the poem, so that every word after it becomes even more soft--near intangible.
All of your poems are so graceful--so elegant. I love how you see things. --Charlie
“The woman or man who is a poet, or fiction writer, or playwright, or all of these, is engaged constantly in a jazz ballet of vocabularies, passions, genders, histories, perspectives, death, love, and life. The music of revelation announces itself to
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Through graceful lifts into the air.
flicker like shadows of light
through columns of silence...
and especially:
A timid gathering of ghosts,
they nibble at the light of the moon.
- which is divine! Thank you for this beautiful encounter so delicately rendered. xx
duke larance - the drugstore cowboy poet
The porch of memory and imagination...
Axilea
best, michael
cg
All of your poems are so graceful--so elegant. I love how you see things. --Charlie
Georg
John
Cheers,
Dan