Town Meeting

“To live your life is not as simple as to cross a field.”—Boris Pasternak

The school budget 
and short-term
rental lodging tax 
barely merit debate 
this year. 
This full house 
is for the new marijuana 
bylaws article— 
all the voters 
question and comment 
till the full flower 
moon is winking 
through town hall’s 
high windows.
Earlier, running 
after the rain, 
I met deer 
in their spring coats, 
gold in a green 
field a mile 
from the center of town.
The sky at dusk
cast a purple glow
I meant to bask 
in for a minute, 
but noted 
the deer’s white tails 
flicking their alarm
and kept moving. 
I’m thinking 
of that light 
now, and the deer’s 
taut caution,
as the motion passes 
shortly after 11
and the moderator’s gavel
marks adjournment.
About how quickly 
the light can go,
and how slow we are 
to see it.

MARIE GAUTHIER

Marie Gauthier is the author of Leave No Wake (Pine Row Press, 2022) and the chapbook Hunger All Inside (Finishing Line Press, 2009). Her poems have appeared in Sugar House Review, The Common, Bracken, Hiram Poetry, and elsewhere.