we come upon the half-eaten leg of a deer, gnawed clean along the thigh bone, the calf still covered in its thin scrim of flesh and tawny fur.
-- The Speaker (Lines 3-5)

Importance: While on a walk with her friend Dion, the speaker finds a dismembered deer leg. This sets off a series of observations and contemplations that drive the poem. As this is a narrative poem, finding the leg can be considered the inciting action. The words "thin scrim" exemplify assonance, contributing to the poem's rhythm.

The dark hoof, a fatted arrow pointing uphill, toward where, we imagine, the rest of the deer might lie—a doe, I’m thinking—
-- The Speaker (Lines 6-7)

Importance: The verbs "think" and "imagine" emphasize the way that the speaker draws connections between her observations. In other words, she fills in the blanks of what she cannot glean through direct observation by speculating. Despite being a dismembered body part, the leg still has...