The truth of blue horses
We cannot cure, only discover. The blue
horses in the parking lot say so. We tilt
back on a bench, hands together, bees
in petals. I ask, which one do you like,
you say, I slept on a glacier, once.
I have not slept on your glacier, grew up
by the train yards with my nana, watched
her give oat bread & fruit to hobbled
blue horses of men, they draw stick
kittens on her gate: kind woman.
I tell you this because I learn we can
wander, unseen, & leave signs from chalk,
beyond the grip of what’s been given. The truth
of healing is bitten into the shadow
of blue horses.
The parking lot is your glacier.
Ice tilts, we lean to yawing water.
We’re deep & velvet as blue glass,
my mouth to yours. The sun is written
in pouring stars over icefields.
The truth of blue horses, is there is
no truth to blue horses, there is only
a redstart in the leaves above us &
we rest on the narrow ledge of her
song, a ribbon on the edge of the sky.
When leaves turn silver bellies up
in the wind, I can foretell rain, & when
a horse’s ears go thin, they are angry, & the
night you leave me after our slight dinner, you slip
out the door like you are late for your own shadow.
At first, I think the best of chosen failings is to go
after you & search, curve off at the next thought,
eye every back for a clue on how to find you.
I grasp my erased arms as if I could hold you,
then take my own ache as it shifts to new,
time lurches forward, I feel the lines on me
where we had leaned into each other so
long, & know they fade. I notice the sparrow
of undivided air & see how simple to seek
sway of motion, open peaks of turquoise clouds.
I know the timing of a thing when it arrives,
see the silver sides of leaves & how they change,
& let the fresh skin of it boast in my bones.
Lynn Finger’s writings have appeared in 8Poems, Perhappened, Wrongdoing Magazine, Book of Matches, Fairy Piece, Drunk Monkeys, Corporeal Lit and is forthcoming in Anti-Heroin Chic. Lynn also is an editor at Harpy Hybrid Review and works with a group, "Free Time," that mentors writers in prison. Follow Lynn on Twitter @sweetfirefly2.