Received Wisdom
A horse fence
still standing despite
posts cracked and rotting at the core
posts thistled with nail heads
where various rails have fallen
woodgrain weathered
bitten deep into boards
silvery as flowing mane
and bearded with lichen
the colors of lime and cloud, turmeric
a bucolic image— but up close
the whiff of molder
in the bone dust acre
what is a horse fence anyway—
a nod of agreement
an arch of the neck
I knew a horse
who jumped a six-foot fence
for a patch of extra-green grass
then sated
jumped back in again
such amicability—
oh you
confounding horses of the mind
pied and dappled round-
haunched and supple
you ripple the rough sod
whicker salted air
and race the length
of the falling-down fence
yet fail to vault
even where the fence lies
in pieces you wait
at the imaginary edges
one hoof pawing the ground
dust drifting from your back
