Unearthing by Mikko Harvey

At night sometimes

I go to the pond

which is a perfect circle

and as soon as I arrive

the gazelle is there too

standing directly

across the water

and as soon as I take

a step towards it

it takes a step away

and when I run

it echoes my run

and when I stop

it also stops

such that

the two of us never

get any closer

or further from

each other we

are just balanced

there two shapes

in starlight so

I don’t run anymore

when I visit the pond

I just sit down

in the crisp grass

and if I wait

like that

for a while then

the gazelle messes

up its long legs and

sits down too

which is a fine

feeling being

at ease together never

having known each

other’s fur

_____________

Mikko Harvey is the author of Let the World Have You (House of Anansi, 2022) and Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit (House of Anansi, 2018). His poems appear in places such as The Kenyon Review, The Poetry Review, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2019. He currently lives in Western Massachusetts.