"DEER DANCE"
Copyright 2006 by LORRIE BORTNER

Back to School

A poem by Ann Iverson

What does one doe do,
spying from the corridor
of leaf and branch,
with hope so intense:
her two fawn making friends
with the woman who
gently slides open the screen door,
steps quietly and indiscreetly
on the grasses of
some far off dream
she's had for years.

Ann Iverson Ann writes:
The same deer who befriended me also trusted me with her two fawn the next spring. This poem honors the mystery of deer life, the skittish way they must exist in a world of fear. The doe allowed me to step ever so close to her babies, and the fawn themselves thought nothing of it as I approached just steps away. I think this is the poem too, when we allow ourselves to get close to the part of ourselves that makes poetry, when we let the fear subside.

Ann Iverson is the author of Come Now to the Window published by the Laurel Poetry Collective in August of 2003. Her poetry has been featured on Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. Her work has also appeared or is forthcoming in Water~Stone, 2000 and 2001; Margie: The American Journal of Poetry; Ache Magazine; Chronicle Alternative; Laurel Poetry Collective Anthology; Miller's Pond; The Oklahoma Review (http://www.cameron.edu/okreview), Talking Stick, and more. A poet who enjoys experimenting in the visual arts, Ann is interested in the visceral connection between the poetic and visual image. A sampling of her art work can be viewed at www.threecandles.org under the link to Deborah Keenan's collected work. Ann has taught at The Loft and currently is the Director of Arts and Sciences at Dunwoody College of Technology, Minneapolis, MN. Ann can be reached via email at: aiverson@dunwoody.edu.

Return to Poetry index