He seems lost, although he’s four-square on the trail,
maybe an abandoned, lonely male, a yearling
whose mother kicked him out to give
her time for this spring’s fawns. If you read up
on white-tailed deer, you’ll find a lauding
of the bucks for sparring, rut behavior,
aggression, competition, dominance,
trophy racks and size. Predictable—
more so than trail-cam footage of a doe
caught snuffling a woven net installed
to keep a forest study site pristine.
A sparrow caught there struggles in the webbing,
until the doe’s lips quiver on the bird’s wings,
and she swallows it whole.