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Our poet writes: “I’m Irina Canute, a student at Endicott College currently enrolled in Professor Doug Holder’s Creative Writing course. I am majoring in Health Science and expect to graduate in 2027. This poem is in response to a sculpture at the Manninen Center for the Arts at Endicott College.”

The Deer and the Child

The child leans into the curves of the deer
Their stillness matches
They grow quiet together
Breath by breath

White on white
Soft and softer
Two bodies connected
one language

The antlers rise
Like thoughts the child can not name
But they blur into one

No longer separate
No edges
One edge end
another starts
The deer holds the child
The child becomes one with deer

It’s hard to tell
where one ends
and the other begins.

— Irina Canute

To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu