Is There a Deer Constellation?

poem

Photo by Unjay Markiewicz on Unsplash

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Once upon a time on the rez,
we found a dead deer

so decayed that it had become
a carpet on the forest floor—

its brown and white hide
draped over green 

and yellow wild grass.
We Indian kids, who already

understood more about death
than we should've, marveled

aloud at the beautiful finality
of that deer. It had become

a relic that required brief
worship, first with a child's

words and then with a child's
silence. After our little service,

we walked farther into
the woods and continued

our prayer and play elsewhere.
We Indian kids were poor, half-

broken, and afraid on too
many days, but we also knew

there are thousands of ways
to be blessed by wilderness.