I set out to construct 9 Horses.

To protect them from discovery,

I wrapped their parts in clear

     Plastic wrap and pushed them into

7 Potholes. Left to the elements

for 5 Days, I returned to find them grazing

    on Asphalt.

 

For teeth they misused what I had intended for their hooves.

Their diamond plated jaws shone only when they masticated upon the underlying, ancient City.

Memories churned through priceless ambition.

 

My pride in their construction was washed away by fear.

For manes, they’d shared 3 Plastic bags

from a nearby convenience store.

Their eyes were beer bottles full of whiskey rage.

I stepped back onto the curb and wept for the gentle souls inside.

 

Forgive the world or blame it for taking my graceful dreams and filling them with sand,

Blood-stained asphalt, grease, and disease.

I drew them in with loving tongue-clicks. They still could hear.

I stroked their cardboard skin and piece-by-piece tore them apart.

 

When I was left with the soul of

A single Dirty horse, I left the city,

and he followed me.

I can hear him, faintly, right behind my left eye.