Karen DeGroot Carter

     With many thanks to Andrea Gibson

Communal grief. And wonder.
Moments you’ve given yourself 
by heading out on that new path 
and spotting two deer, buck leading, 
doe lengths behind but intent,
both beelining to a hidden thicket
of comfort and care. I’ve seen many 
lately on hikes, I forgot or failed
or just had no freaking time to even
consider going on all those years of getting
things done, so focused on the next thing
and the next. Time helps. Time and hikes
taken that lead to glimpses of deer, 
stately antlered or sublime,
on a mission together or alone, 
until suddenly, silently, gone.
	

A native of Syracuse, New York, and a graduate of Syracuse University, Karen DeGroot Carter (she/her) (@kdegrootcarter) lives in Denver. Her first novel, One Sister’s Song, is in print with Pearl Street Publishing of Denver, and her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in BigCityLit, Interim, Publishers Weekly, and elsewhere.