The following poems have been largely taken from facts about an incident that occurred in 2007 and 2008, and began many years
before. In the 1920's the San Francisco Zoo brought Axis deer (from the Ceylon Islands, East India) and Fallow deer (from Mediterranean,
Persia and Eurasia) to San Francisco. In 1947-49 they sold their over-populations to Dr. Millard Ottinger, a rancher who owned a large track of
land on Pt.Reyes peninsula in Marin County, California just north of San Francisco.
Some of these poems are from found language from actual articles written over a period of thirty years from 1974 until 2008. Some documentation comes from National Park Service (NPS) website, including the Pt. Reyes National Seashore website and from the White Buffalo, Inc. website listed in the back on the List of Sources page.
References to Native American language and culture are not intended appropriations of language or culture, but come authentically from my experience of the last thirty years with various tribal groups who have generously taught me some of their language, allowed me to dance
in their sacred dances, and who have shared with me the values, that they knew I also shared with them. If there are any errors in these references
they are my own. All tribal references other than Lakota, have been found in books, or on websites and are replicated commonly, and all references
are noted in the back of the book in the end pages.
My intention in this book is to honor those who fought, raised awareness, and loved the deer. The balance of the voices heard in these
pages is about the percentage of the people for and against the deer in the story. I hope in some small way, it questions the policies of invasive
species created by the National Park Service. But most of all, I wish to honor the magical deer that lived in Pt. Reyes before the National
Seashore was even developed as a national park.
The following poems have been previously published:
"Writing without Walls", on-line reading and print journal February, 2012:
"Don't shoot I'm white and non-native"
Expedition
Lost Deer revised from publication
Samizdat Literary Journal On-line and print journal January, 2010
Shoulder Blade" drawing/poem
