4. The Deerpersand and the Green Herring

ecce ecce ecce | the deepersand of elegant grace | the turn

of its ampersantlers | to the ground to show | subservience

“please do not | the knife to my furred throat | slash”

just before | just | after the blade | through neck slipped

deerpersand blood | gushed green and heavy and down

onto leaf mulch and speckled fern | onto rock outcropping

and fallen branch | the deerpersand’s legs wobbled | gave

way | the fall to the fore knees | the collapse of the back

knees | neck wound laughing beneath | a wobbling head

its whole body coming down | into the form of a carcass

the great hunter | proud of his skill | ready to provide

symbols for his family to eat | cut away the ampersantlers

to allow anything in his life to be added to | green tongue

which he would eat to learn | every word he would need

the golden hooves to melt into | ingots of understanding

those green eyes | giving him the power to see new words

each erect ear of the deerpersand | so he could hear any

word spoken across the globe | and the spongy brain

which combined all aspects of the dead body into | one

who could create all the meaning of the universe | but

the hunter knew nothing of | the green herring | neither

what it was | nor what powers it bore against the killer

of a deerpersand | riding his horse home | dragging the

bloody green pieces of the animal | including a few hunks

of emerald flesh | & an unintentional organ kept | the spleen

the source of rage and retribution | a piece of the animal

that would dry out and die | unless it fell into persandand

waters | such as the Marsh of Mulct | the steed, weary

from days of hunting and little rest | stumbled where

packed dirt was not | buckled its knees on soft earth

tumbled leftward into the brackish persandand waters

waters that refreshed anything | that entered in it | thus

the horse again strong and healthy | the hunter again

strong and virile and ready for woman | the green spleen

grew three sizes larger | fins on its sides | gills near

its eyes | and swam the murky and tight waters

a kilometer’s distance | in less time than the hunter

returned to his feet | he perused the scene | gathered his

pieces of deerpersand into a satchel | and headed toward

his trek’s finish | green herring following on land and water

at home | he gave the meat to his cooks | one ear to his wife

stowing every other piece | under his bed for later use

that night every person | in the chateau ate succulent green

meat | drank chartreuse | and sang songs to the hunter’s

wizardly luck | and the green herring watched this reverie

as it grew ten times its size more | drunk with meat and

full of chartreuse | the revelers retired to their beds and

lovers | the hunter made love to his wife and promised her

she would have the strongest child ever born | an arm

of steel | vision to see beyond the horizon | the balance of

an upright top | the ability to speak in any language | and

to create grandchildren | with one hundred women

and the green herring watched it all | it watched as

the woman grew her child that very night | as she birthed

a strong green boy who | could speak upon opening his eyes

and his parents were joyful at their fortune | and the green

herring watched as the boy quickly aged | becoming

the age of 100 in two hours | and the green herring ate him

slowly as the parents screamed | before searching for a sea