LIFE AS A HUMAN

Stallions

I sat bareback, rode through
cliffs filled with wandering
red capes in dawns
calling out for my skin to become
one with it,

I rode the white mare to earthly
meanings to come up with only
dirty stones
thrown
at me

from a distance so
they pinched rather than pierced
my skin,

I asked it to be a part of something where
water and thoughts
of possessing the other relinquished
any need to be distant from it,

I ran with them to meet the winds growing
around my hair and when they stood to face the
sun, I remembered attaching my
memory to them in my sleep
where bedposts were not stabled,

They kicked dirt
allowed me one moment to know freedom,
I took off my socks

with them too,
and in the paths they filled
my heels,

One clever stallion galloped next to me, but I didn’t notice
it had two eyes facing forward,
and at the back two more looking behind as
it sought to get away from me,

it bucked and
refused to be gentled by an ivory memory of
playing in long fields of yellowed grass, it stood with the
breeze instead.

Photo Credit

Flowers and Poppies by - Chase Fotography

Guest Author Bio

Melinda Cochrane
Melinda Cochrane was raised in Newfoundland. She graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. Her first publication was with ditch poetry and The Stray Branch literary magazine. Melinda has a chapter of work going into print with Backalong books in their Arts Informed Inquiry series. She currently also has a collection of poetry going into publication called “The man who stole father’s boat”, also with Backalong Books. She teaches English in Montreal at Beaconsfield high school.