Yeah, that’s right.
He was standing there
looking at us
under hooded eyes.
His antlers seemed to be
on alert.
He wasn’t moving.

We were almost
done with our walk.
We’d be flying out
later that day.
There was no way we were
going past the buck.

I thought of “The Grizzly Man”,
of the bear eating the
man for dinner.

We took a few paces
towards the buck.
His eyes followed us.
We circled a van.
He took two steps forward.
We stopped.

I said to my husband,
“Today is NOT a good day to die.”
Our daughter
would be sad.
And we’d miss London
(those great plays)
all because of a boring buck.

Whoever heard of a buck
attacking two old people
in the middle of the street….
two old folks
on their morning
perambulation?

I didn’t want
us to be the first.
I didn’t want to be
a thread on Nextdoor.

We turned around
and took
a different
road home.