Big Brown Horse

I feel no barrier
between this horse and me;
nothing I can't touch, smell, heft;
no haze of myth nor formality
of fine-art framing.

This horse was painted
by someone suffering
from the delusion
that she is as open
and insubstantial as air,

that, therefore,
she has nothing to fear
from force and bulk and bristly textures,
nothing on which sharp musky odors
can rub off.

She has let this horse graze
right up to and
through her (her own delusion
charming the horse),
and, at any moment,
he may lift his browsing muzzle
(causing a major commotion of mane)
and mosey right through
us.

Dean Blehert

Last Updated: October 6, 2002