Thicket

the stag who stole the forest

One spring the forest went missing, and the search party found it walking around on four thin legs, in full bloom. Thicket had not meant to steal anything. He had only stood still too long in the deep wood, long enough for the garden to mistake him for a trellis. Gardenia opened along his antlers. Peony and rose followed, then pear blossom, until he moved through the world like a hedge that had learned to walk. Bees adore him. Doorways are a problem. Thicket is that green burden in flower, bottled: gardenia, peony and rose over pear blossom and soft patchouli. The stag who stole the forest and gave it back as a garden.