That male elk across the creek

wooed the dozen females

and made their calves.

They sprawl the meadow.

He looks up, lowers his antlers,

grazes another mouthful.

Then looks again.

One of the last cows

goes to ground. Rests maybe

as the herd drifts to water.

She stays while they wade.

Finally, sun lower, she rises

with her damp, unsteady child:

powerful elk medicine.

– Denise Low, who lives in Lawrence, was recently named the next Poet Laureate of Kansas.