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 buccolic 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

published in Plume Poetry issue #138 (February 2023)

George Stubbs, Molly Longlegs (1762)

Photo credit: Liverpool Museum