Fall 2008
Indentured Metaphor of the Horse
Every horse threatens
to buck its rider.
Every mane waves in the wind.
-
Caught in a burning barn,
a horse will stand still
to be reborn
in flames.
-
The horse can answer all of man's questions
using none of his words.
-
The first rhythm was counted
in hoofbeats. The second was the sound
of twelve horses running
through a shallow river.
The first night was a black horse's back, the first
day rode a mare.
-
It has become harder and harder to understand
why, in the secret chambers
of the heart, we wish to be ravaged
by horses.
-
When the first horse was captured
the first winter began.
When the last horse is broken
children will never wake up.
_
While making love, a black horse flashes
through your mind.
Let no one fool your heart.
-
One day they will trample us all
into the dust.
They will leave no one to tell the story
for there will be no story.
-
A horse has eyes for looking deeply
and legs for running far away.
Is anything really mysterious?
Craig Morgan Teicher's first book, Brenda Is In The Room and Other Poems, was chosen by Paul Hoover for the 2007 Colorado Prize for Poetry. His second book, a collection of fables called Cradle Book, will be published by BOA Editions in 2010. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.