*
Pamela Gemme is a poet, artist, and a social justice advocate. Pamela is the co-editor of Essential Anthology forthcoming 2022, Borderless Books West Virginia University. She has recent or forthcoming publications in many journals and anthologies and is working on two poetry manuscripts and has work in or forthcoming in many journals and anthologies. Pamela’s artwork can be seen in commercial settings on magazine covers and in galleries. Pamela can be reached at ArtSense@yahoo.com.

The Moose and the Owl of Rutland State Forest

Pamela Gemme

their lives intertwine in the benefit
of bark that is a dark twin to this moose
he scratches, mars, and rams the pine tree,

her camouflage is the knot she lives in
she thrives on tics and mosquitoes
that stay alive on his back in December

she drinks from the cups of pinecones
molts in a twitter in the flicker
of this early winter

She flies along the loop that the moose uses
in a full gallop, follows him to the pine grove
where the canopy of trees disallows

snow to accumulate underneath,
she perches, her little head appears inert,
but she’s alert, at attention,

He sleeps in a bed of pine
where he leaves a body imprint
where he tucks his legs by lowering himself

onto the pedestal of his haunches
one side of his velvet antlers
touches the ground

— Pamela Gemme

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