Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Poetry Month

I stumbled upon the fact that this is National Poetry Month, so I went searching for poems. I wanted something a little different, and a little modern, and I've always liked Gluck.

Horse

What does the horse give you
That I cannot give you?

I watch you when you are alone,
When you ride into the field behind the dairy,
Your hands buried in the mare's
Dark mane.

Then I know what lies behind your silence:
Scorn, hatred of me, of marriage. Still,
You want me to touch you; you cry out
As brides cry, but when I look at you I see
There are no children in your body.
Then what is there?

Nothing, I think. Only haste
To die before I die.

In a dream, I watched you ride the horse
Over the dry fields and then
Dismount: you two walked together;
In the dark, you had no shadows.
But I felt them coming toward me
Since at night they go anywhere,
They are their own masters.

Look at me. You think I don't understand?
What is the animal
If not passage out of this life?

Louise Gluck


And a list of anthologies of poems about horses.

Adults'
Poems About Horses by Carmela Ciuaru (Random House)
Say This Of Horses by C.E. Greer (University of Iowa Press)


Children's
Hoofprints
by Jessie Haas (Google Books)
A Grass Green Gallop by Patricia Hubbell (cover image)
My Kingdom For A Horse by Betty Ann Schwartz (Henry Holt)
My Mane Catches The Wind by Lee Bennett Hopkins (cover image) il. Sam Savitt

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