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Posts Tagged ‘horse’

In Evening Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 22, 2026| 4 Comments »


 
 
She lets us touch her neck, her back, that beautiful,
old, black mustang. Cautiously, we flank her
and stroke her taut sides, our hands full of praise.
Her large gray eyes droop. She begins to drool.
Joe laughs, saying she is so at ease 
she is about to fall asleep. 
I am thinking of how every morning I take
calcium, B-vitamins, drink water with lemon,
believing small daily habits make a big difference
over time. Perhaps it is the same with awe—
spending even a few moments a day touching
something greater than we are will eventually
change who we are inside. I believe that tonight, 
moved as I am by the surprising softness of her hips, 
the trust she conveys with her stillness, my palm 
moving slowly against her side. Her ease becomes 
my ease as I watch my daughter rest her forehead 
on the mustang’s withers. The great being’s trust 
becomes my trust as the sunset turns 
the whole world to amber, to gold. 

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Why Every Act of Kindness Matters

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 14, 2019| Leave a Comment »

 

 

Mom, she said, is it true? And it wasn’t

that I’d tried to keep the truth from her,

it just never came into conversation,

old horses are sometimes used for glue.

 

Yes, I said, wishing I could soften the message. It’s true.

She knew its truth already, but don’t we all

sometimes long to be wrong? New tears dammed

in her eyes before they fell. Is that really

 

the world I belong to? she rued, then buried

her face in the couch. Two hours later,

I thought her same thought as I read the news:

Anti-Semitism. Bribery. Child sexual abuse.

 

I wanted to hear the stories weren’t true.

Oh world, so broken, still, unglued, I choose you.

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One for When It Feels Ungrounded

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

all four legs midair

the horse thrusts forward—

loving you like that

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For My Daughter, At Horse Riding Camp

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

She is across the mesa,

learning to saddle up, mount up

and post the trot.

It’s what we don’t know

that frightens us.

For a time, there is

the death grip. For a time,

there’s forgetting to breathe.

But soon there’s the thrill

of learning to move

with another, the joy

of breathing in rhythm

with the stride.

 

I follow the skyline

to where she is,

wonder what planet

I’m using to triangulate

my wishes good night.

I, too, am learning

to hold on more loosely,

to breathe into these

new rhythms, chin up,

eyes on where we’re going,

a smile insisting on itself.

 

 

 

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