Yoked by Violence Together

At just the right distance,
From just the right angle
Of evening, the mule deer

In the field resemble
Fleas, heads dug in to feed,
Rumps jutting from the weeds—

Jumping fleas, bounding fleas,
Big fleas that might stampede
Through cattle fat as ticks.

All life’s parasitic,
Come to think of it, laugh
The ravens, black speck gnats.