A Mormon literary backcountry where words and place come together.

 

 

 

 

Horses

by Patricia | 3.21.09

 by P. G. Karamesines

Like swallows, each one shapes its path
On the other’s—two horses, maybe yearlings,
So alike in color and conformation
My eye exchanges them as they run.
It’s what they are together my eye
Singles out: twins of movement.
They stop and box the air between them,
Swinging skulls like stiff-armed fists.
They roll apes’ lips to shake formidable
Teeth and lift themselves one above
The other.  Pheasants fly from the strike
Of their hooves.  When these two rest,
They stand brown cheek on brown cheek 
Following sparks of interest
As through a single pair of eyes.
Then one animal shifts weight and they sheer
Apart, jogging to another ring to dance out
Their joke. Is it love or wit, the orchard’s
Flower fragrance wreathed ‘round their heads,
The cooling evening lights? They are
Supple with each other and have quick parts.
The sinew of their laughter runs down the long grass.

Tagged: , , , ,
Filed under: Nature poetry, WIZ's Spring Poetry Runoff, animal encounters

5 Responses to Horses

  1. Patricia
    March 21st, 2009 at 9:30 am

    This one is rather subtle in its spring theme, but it’s a common spring scene. Horses dance at winter’s end.

  2. Ruth
    March 21st, 2009 at 11:12 am

    This is so delightful, Patricia. I watched this the day before yesterday as a trainer worked with his lone horse, and then a few weeks ago as a half a dozen horses raced and frolicked in their private joke. I laughed out loud. I think I knew their joke. It was a good one.

  3. Patricia
    March 21st, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    Ruth, I’m glad you liked the poem.

    I think the relief in and joy at spring’s arrival is felt in everybody and everything.

  4. Ruth
    March 22nd, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    I’m watching the new leaves blow through the trees as a storm pretends to blow in. It won’t come, but it likes to tease us here in Price. We have a good laugh about it now and then. My kids and I were just giggling about how the pine trees were doing a hula dance.

    Spring is an excellent time for a giggle, and also good for fossil digging. Isn’t it fun to discover what hidden treasures the earth has stored up for just such a day? The local Manko shale is soft, and yields all kinds of invertebrates that we marvel over. Hours of fun, and we giggle and laugh, just like the horses.

    How can I resist picking some of the daffodils and bringing them inside? I want to leave them for everyone, but at the same time, I want to capture them and fill my home with their smell and brighten the place up with their glow.

    I think the horses revel in the fact that they get to have it all. They don’t have to worry about whether or not to steal away with the beautiful blooms, and they get to fill their nostrils with the scent of the fresh spring earth. They know far more than we will ever know about the earth, and it fills them with such excitement they cannot contain their absolute excitement and zeal for life.

    Amazing.

    What would it be like to live like that?

    One day soon I will have a large green pasture filled with beautiful horses where they can run far and wide and race and play and laugh, and I will feel that same contentment, and the racing of my heart as they play.

    <<>>

  5. Patricia
    March 22nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Ruth,

    We’re about two and a half hours southeast of you and are choking on a spring dust storm today. There’s so much dirt in the driving wind the sky is silvery-brown rather than blue. The horses aren’t dancing now; they’re standing tail-to-wind, waiting it out, their large eyes exposed to windborne hazards.

    Today would not be a good day to be a horse.

    But I know from experience it is possible to live with a large measure of peace and liveliness and beauty, no matter the circumstances.

Leave a Reply