Jacob Herrera Spears

Deer in the Orange Grove

Often, down here in the city,
the first sign of fire
is a dry breeze

sweeping the hills before
the lights fizzle out.
Everyone reaches

for flashlights in the dark,
wanders out to see what’s
causing the fuss.

Once, in my neighborhood,
we walked barefoot
down the street,

pausing at the thin lip of red
that lined the mountain’s
sleepy silhouette

like the last shred of night
sky’s rind, peeling
away from us.

I saw their shadows first.
All the orchard’s trees
writhing in light.

Then I heard the hooves:
the quietest stampede,
leaving dimples

in the dirt. And the sound—
the sound like the ripe
weight of a thousand

oranges falling at once
to the soft ground
in little thuds.

---

Jacob Herrera Spears is a writer from Goleta, CA, who recently completed a B.A. in English at Westmont College after transferring from Santa Barbara City College. His poems have appeared in the Santa Barbara Literary Journal, Blue Unicorn, and Rattle.