How I Met My Deer Wife
after Su Cho
Frances Klein
Lichen Log
Sandra Wilcoxon
awake all night in the glade, i lay so still
that by dawn i must have seemed another
feature of the landscape, some log safe
for fawn-hiding
when i found i was still living i sat up
and there was Deer Wife,
weaving crowns of fireweed,
covering my feet in forget-me-nots
Deer Wife, red gold sunrise haloing
Her head,
stepping gentle on legs
slendered down to cloven points
it seemed like nothing, then, to give
my whole life to those bottomless brown eyes
it seems like nothing, now, all those things
i left behind to follow the black tuft of Her tail
as She entered the forest
Frances Klein (she/her) is an Alaskan poet and teacher. Klein is the author of the poetry collection Another Life (Riot in Your Throat 2025) and several poetry chapbooks, including (Text) Messages from The Angel Gabriel (Gnashing Teeth Press, 2024). She is a founding editor of Flight: A Literary Sampler, and editor at The Weight Journal. Klein’s writing has appeared in Best Microfictions, The London Magazine, Rattle, The Harvard Advocate, HAD, and others. Find Frances on Instagram and BlueSky.
Sandra Wilcoxon started painting in watercolor in 2020, and soon focused on Botanical Art. It is an exciting and challenging art form, depicting and interpreting nature in great detail. She loves texture and discovery and the discipline of daily sketching and practice, and finds it gratifying to see the work grow and evolve as she becomes better at combining paper, paint, pencil and pen to achieve the desired effect. Prior to developing her Botanical series, she worked in mixed media using beads and pearls woven into three-dimensional sculptures and statement jewelry. She’s also done quite a bit of drawing, printmaking and clay work. See more of Sandra’s work at www.skwilcoart.com or on Instagram.