Could

William Keckler
1 min readJun 12, 2024

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I could think and talk suddenly, and put clothing on myself. I was not like the other animals towards which I had always crawled in amazement. Encountering the face of a cat, of any other animal that would allow approach, was like opening a toy. I realized I was born to pet. All of this brought regard from the giants around me who fed me. Only later would I realize what was on the table where we ate. My brothers were older. They hunted with my father each year. One took me down to the garage to show me the dead deer lying there. It was feminine, lovely. A little blood had come from its mouth and stained the concrete. This spot turned a rust color and never went away. He made me touch its dead eye. “This is the only time in your life you will probably ever touch a deer’s eye,” he said proudly. So far he is right.

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William Keckler

Writer, visual artist. Books include Sanskrit of the Body, which won in the U.S. National Poetry Series (Penguin). https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/532348.