2022 OHIO POETRY CONTEST RUNNER UP

i dream of the deer / in marriage counseling

Poetry by ​Vic Nogay

i tuck my body
into where the tree line
breaks. you
 
hide far behind, not seeing
me in the midday dark
of old growth.
 
deer clear me
as if i were brush,
turn back and suckle
 
the palms of my hands;
their tongues deterge
my eyes, my ears.
 
big bodies
light as light
until felled.
 
you rise
and blow the smoke
from your gun.
 
/
 
you laugh at
this part, say
that’s not how it works,
 
but when i say again
i dream of the deer,
your set mouth turns down,
 
your hard eyes turn downy
blinking back tears,
your callused chest exhales
 
a firm rebuke,
and sowthistle
burrows out of me.

Vic Nogay​

Vic Nogay is an emo poet and two-time Best Microfiction nominee. Her work appears in Barren Magazine, Lost Balloon, Reservoir Road, and Capsule Stories, among others. Her micro-poetry chapbook under fire under water will be published by tiny wren lit in 2022. Read more: vicnogay.com