A horse or deer, an iron horse. Steel bent to suggest a limb, half-lifted. A curve posits the
necessity of eyes, keeping an eye on things. Limber foreleg lifted into air, horse. An air of
grace, a deer fleeing into dark. Shadows of oaks stand in the wings. Dear horse and dark night.
Her tail suggests otherwise, an impatience registers even in stillness. Night horse a flight of iron
over earth. Even iron cannot defy gravity. Any situation is lost without a map. steel bends
necessarily, a bow or arc, an unwillingness to wait. forest beckons like black earth and sun-
soaked air. Seen and seeing, grace depends on silence and the inevitability of motion. A horse
gambols over earth, a horse making light of air.

Marthe Reed
from her book Tender Box: A Wunderkammer
Lavender Ink, 2007
Used by permission of the poet.