Survivor

By Gary Beck


Going north to Vermont,
on Route Seven,
somewhere in the twilight,
in the Green Mountains,
the road spirals up and round,
down into darkness,
headlights snaring
a lonely felon,
a deer.
Violet eyes of fright
blaze before her flight.
She made it this time.
She was beautiful, wild, free,
much wooed by fenders.

Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn't earn a living in the theater. He has also been a tennis pro, a ditch digger and a salvage diver. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway and toured colleges and outdoor performance venues. He currently lives in New York City, where he's busy writing fiction and his short stories have recently appeared in numerous literary magazines.