The Wounded Deer

after the painting by Frida Khalo

cacophony clutters
my morning commute
my bedroom
my head
the shower

pinch of voodoo spikes
tensing my back
arrows

in the venison flesh
of a body     determined
to persist
a deer
gallops

through meadows    to drink
from a spring     milling
the buttercups
tending
young

I am an animal’s
fixed instinct     with two
sets of ears
blinded
I smear

a trail in the dirt     dragging
my blood     towards the tide

the forest
trunks

only thickening
tongues      blocking the path
to the sea

Rachel White (she/her) is an American-born poet and artist who lives and works on Kaurna land in South Australia. Her poetry has been featured in Kissing Dynamite, placed highly commended in the 2022 Woorilla Poetry Prize, and has been nominated for Best Microfiction 2024. Her work appears in Lunch Ticket’s Amuse Bouche, Rogue Agent, Third Wednesday Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, Amethyst Review and Porcupine Lit. You can find Rachel on Instagram @rachelwhite.studio.