“Deer are amazing animals. They can adapt to almost any environment, but one thing you don't see deer do too often is swim. Most people are surprised that deer can even swim to begin with, but they're actually quite strong swimmers.”

~ Marc Alberto, Outdoor Life

At first I thought it was a beaver. From a distance, I saw the black body swimming down the middle of the river. Then, more strange, a smaller being swimming ten feet behind in its wake. I was walking along the Charles in Rocky Narrows, a stretch of trail that borders the river, crosses a meadow. No, it’s too big for a beaver. Closer, it looked like a donkey. How could a donkey be swimming in the river? A donkey, followed by a small dog? How strange! No, it’s a doe. I did not know deer could swim! How - why is the doe swimming? Why is the dog chasing it? They must be exhausted, I thought. Going at the same pace. The dog gaining no ground, locked in a bizarre stale mate. Charlie! Get the dog! I pointed Charlie, hoping he’d swim and distract the dog. Nope. Charlie wouldn’t go. I called and called to the dog, waving a stub of a dog cookie in my hand. Nope. He kept swimming behind the deer. I felt very concerned for both animals, and helpless. No one else around at all. Where did this dog come from? Was the deer injured? How would this bizarre chase end? I decided to hurry home and get in the kayak. It took me about fifteen or twenty minutes, but I knew the animals would not possibly reach my property first so I hoped to circle back to reach them. Charlie was furious with me for launching and heading onto the rive without him. He stood at the bank and howled, but I set off, hoping to run into the dog and the deer, and disrupt the dog, coax him to shore with my paddle, to let the deer go. And I paddled for quite some time, but didn’t reach them. No sight of them at all, I turned back. And I don’t know how this stale mate ended. I hope they both survived. My poem survived. I took it to the workshop, and came away feeling all it needs is a tweak or two. It has gone from prose to poem in a short time, but it has been a year since it was originally composed; exactly a year. I will make these changes tomorrow and send it out, I think. Chad Parenteau kindly invited me to feature at Stone Soup Poetry on November 13 in Boston. I’m very much looking forward to this. I must begin to plan what I’ll present.