Sketching Decaying Leaves and Other Dead Things

A whitetail deer watches her sitting on a tree stump
sketching the leaves under her feet that
move in the slight wind that
gently musses her hair.
She has plans to go to medical school
after she goes to the U
after she graduates high school
after she gets her drivers license
after she brings up her grades
so doing well in art class means a lot.
She’s not sure why but she likes drawing dead things
like the aspen leaves and owl pellets at her feet.
She found a possum by the roadside
and after the rest of the class walked around it
in revulsion, she stopped, got her cell phone
and took nine photos,
poking it with her foot to get the other side.
It’s mouth was open, teeth bared,
tongue hanging into the dirt,
fur matted with blood.
She decided to draw a
dead sparrow instead,
half buried in the decayed aspen leaves at her feet,
half eaten by something else
also interested in dead things.

Rosemary Moeller