On Being Vulnerable
- Elizabeth Weir
- 20 hours ago
- 1 min read
by Elizabeth Weir
The dog stiffens, stops on the lonely field path,
ears pricked; attention fixed on something—
a man? Beyond the leafy screen of woodland edge?
A twig snaps. The dog lunges on his leash. Does a lurker
watch me, a woman, alone, backlit by sun
in this open field? Our path lies through the woods.
The dog tugs. I pick up a rock. Enter
shadowed woods. Dark trunks. Dim and still.
The dog hauls me forward—a dart of movement—
a doe. I drop my rock, resent that my gender
leaves me as much a creature of prey
to males of my species as that slender doe.
***
Elizabeth Weir’s High on Table Mountain, was nominated for the 2017 Midwest Poetry Book Award. Kelsey Books published her second book, When Our World Was Whole, which was selected for the National Poetry House Showcase. Her work has been published in many journals, including Comestock Review, Agates, The London Reader, Gyroscope and Adana.