HORSES
Introduction:
“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves- strong, powerful, beautiful- and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.”- Pam Brown.
The poetry I have included in my anthology is much more than just the physical being of horses. It is about who they represent, and who they allow us to become. The pure sight of horses drove me to write this anthology. With every slight movement they make, the way the wind rushes over their backs and moves their smooth has moved me. Everything about them to me is raw, wild, and beautiful. I really think they are some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. They can help us solve problems and help us find who we really are without one word escaping their tongue. In the poem, A Horse Grazes In My Shadow by Matt Rasmussen, even the presence of this horse, and the whole wild scene it creates leads a guy to stop his grief of his brother’s suicide. This shows how powerful horses really are. They are not just the image most people give them as barnyard animals we can sometimes ride on. They are people who give silent comfort. They cannot tell you, you are wrong and they cannot tear you down. They are there and they understand. I know everybody wants this comfort, and I think my anthology would be a perfect way to tap into this comfort. The words the authors’ use that flow so well together can help comfort you in many ways. The words on the pages help you in silence, just the same as the horses.
“There is something about a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”- Winston Churchill
“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves- strong, powerful, beautiful- and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.”- Pam Brown.
The poetry I have included in my anthology is much more than just the physical being of horses. It is about who they represent, and who they allow us to become. The pure sight of horses drove me to write this anthology. With every slight movement they make, the way the wind rushes over their backs and moves their smooth has moved me. Everything about them to me is raw, wild, and beautiful. I really think they are some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. They can help us solve problems and help us find who we really are without one word escaping their tongue. In the poem, A Horse Grazes In My Shadow by Matt Rasmussen, even the presence of this horse, and the whole wild scene it creates leads a guy to stop his grief of his brother’s suicide. This shows how powerful horses really are. They are not just the image most people give them as barnyard animals we can sometimes ride on. They are people who give silent comfort. They cannot tell you, you are wrong and they cannot tear you down. They are there and they understand. I know everybody wants this comfort, and I think my anthology would be a perfect way to tap into this comfort. The words the authors’ use that flow so well together can help comfort you in many ways. The words on the pages help you in silence, just the same as the horses.
“There is something about a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”- Winston Churchill
The Dusk Of Horses
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Response:“With nails as silent as stars among the wood Hewed down years ago and now rotten.” The Dusk of Horses, by James Dickey caught my attention the moment I read the title. Just thinking about how horses can be affected by dusk, or the changing in season really drove me to include this poem in my anthology. While I was reading it, I noticed the power and visualizations it used. One line, “Now if they lean they come On wood on any side. Not touching it, they sleep. No beast ever lived who understood” I really loved and was drawn to this line because it talks about something that the poet claims only the horses would ever know. No human or other living thing would ever know besides them, and this was a way to see it through this “no connection” thing. You really are able to know what it is like to be them, expressed in a way of words. Imagery is a common piece of figurative language used in this poem. “The next hill. The grass is white. There is not cloud so dark and white at once; There is no pool at dawns that deepens,” reminds me of walking over this one hill in Michigan. It was winter and the hill was covered in ice and snow. I was right next to a lake and the clouds in the sky blended right in with the air. I think this is what James Dickey is trying to get at, and I appreciate that I am able to remember I time just the same as this one. This poem also uses enjambment to enhance and deepen the poetry. Each stanza has three lines, some with commas and some with periods. Each three-lined stanza talks about a common theme or idea within the whole theme. A new idea is introduced, but it is still related to the main topic of horses. Horses are powerful, and introduce an image of freedom to most people, which I am trying to capture through this poem and my anthology.
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The Multitude
by: Ellen Hinsey Standing at the edge is the great Multitude. They inch forward in their rags and hunger. Their movement along the ground lifts the sound of ancestral migrations. They are carrying the dark water of need in their eyes; they are carrying the first vowels, the first consonants, But their mouths are silent, and watchful. And the great scavenging wings hang over them; the raven eyes hunting among the muteness of the winding cortege. Beside them are the pools filled with the specters of famine, civil war, drought— They become one body, a muscle of need. A testament of want. And night—which is always upon them—rides them like the wild horses of the storm-filled plains. They will inherit the earth only when the final pilgrimage is done. For in this life, the crystal lake and the great sword of understanding, raised high, will not show them mercy. Far off, in the West, a light burns brightly. But it is not for them. |
Response:
“With nails as silent as stars among the wood Hewed down years ago and now rotten.” The Dusk of Horses, by James Dickey caught my attention the moment I read the title. Just thinking about how horses can be affected by dusk, or the changing in season really drove me to include this poem in my anthology. While I was reading it, I noticed the power and visualizations it used. One line, “Now if they lean they come On wood on any side. Not touching it, they sleep. No beast ever lived who understood” I really loved and was drawn to this line because it talks about something that the poet claims only the horses would ever know. No human or other living thing would ever know besides them, and this was a way to see it through this “no connection” thing. You really are able to know what it is like to be them, expressed in a way of words. Imagery is a common piece of figurative language used in this poem. “The next hill. The grass is white. There is not cloud so dark and white at once; There is no pool at dawns that deepens,” reminds me of walking over this one hill in Michigan. It was winter and the hill was covered in ice and snow. I was right next to a lake and the clouds in the sky blended right in with the air. I think this is what James Dickey is trying to get at, and I appreciate that I am able to remember I time just the same as this one. This poem also uses enjambment to enhance and deepen the poetry. Each stanza has three lines, some with commas and some with periods. Each three-lined stanza talks about a common theme or idea within the whole theme. A new idea is introduced, but it is still related to the main topic of horses. Horses are powerful, and introduce an image of freedom to most people, which I am trying to capture through this poem and my anthology. |
A Horse Grazes In My Shadow
by: Matt Rasmussen Startled by my breath it bolts to the other end of the field. The horizon's brow rasps against a green cloud which seems both desperate and sincere. Into a dead tree a flame of bird drives its burning beak. And somewhere out here I have come to terms with my brother's suicide. I wish the god of this place would put me in its mouth until I dissolve, until the field doesn't end and I am broken open like a shotgun, swabbed clean. |
Response:This poem by Matt Rasmussen was so much more than just a poem about horses. There was a whole other depth to it, all wrapped up in deep figurative language and sudden changes in mood. The poem started out “startled by my breath it bolts to the other end of the field.” It is talking about a horse, which I thought the whole poem was going to be about. It then abruptly changes to, “And somewhere out here I have come to terms with my brother’s suicide. It changes from being about a horse in a field, to someone recovering from the grief of his brother’s suicide. I think that without this change, this poem would be very boring and bland. It needed a way to branch out from just the idea of the horse. The horse needed to mean something, or to affect something, and that is exactly what it did. The whole scene of the horse and the field in the beginning is the reason why the voice in this poem “comes to terms” with his brother’s suicide. The figurative language used in this poem really lets me feel like I am the voice of this poem. My favorite line with figurative language in this poem is, “and I am broken open like a shotgun, swabbed clean.” This similie is very powerful because I think the speaker is trying to get across that their emotions are finally breaking free from the lock that held them inside for so long. His emotions have been shot out, just like bullets are shot out of a shotgun. After they have been shot out, all of the extra emotions (debris left in the gun) is being cleaned out and nothing is left but the new, shiny, and clean inside of the gun. The horse and scene allowed the speaker to set his emotions free about his brother’s suicide, and finally become a new, shiny, and clean gun.
Something I learned and thought was very interesting was that Matt Rasmussen’s brother did commit suicide. Most of his poetry is based off of this, and I have noticed one common theme in most of his poetry. He always talks about a gun. I think that his brother probably commited suicide with a gun, and he is trying to work through his new ideas of them every time he writes a poem. In this particular one, he feels better about it, and is a “shotgun swabbed clean.” |
A Blessing
by: James Wright Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian ponies Darken with kindness. They have come gladly out of the willows To welcome my friend and me. We step over the barbed wire into the pasture Where they have been grazing all day, alone. They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness That we have come. They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other. There is no loneliness like theirs. At home once more, They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness. I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms, For she has walked over to me And nuzzled my left hand. She is black and white, Her mane falls wild on her forehead, And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist. Suddenly I realize That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom. |
Response:“Her mane falls wild on her forehead, And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear that is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.” A Blessing, by James Wright gives you a representation of how he views these beautiful creatures we call horses. He confesses his love for them, and you can really tell he cares deeply for them. They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other. There is no loneliness like theirs.” Why would he be talking about their loneliness if he just said they love each other? I think he is trying to say that even though they are thought of by the world to be lonely animals on the plains, they are actually very happy and content with one another living on the plains. James Wright uses a sort of irony to display this. Right before he says, “there is no loneliness like theirs,” he says “they love each other.” He is stating what is true first, or what he believes is true. He then goes on to say what he thinks other people see the, as, “lonely.” To him, horses are not in fact “lonely,” they are actually happy and content in their natural world, the plains. My favorite line in this poem is the last one, “Suddenly I realize, that if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom.” The horses make this guy so happy and peaceful that he says he is able to become completely free, like a flower blossoming at exactly the right time. Sometimes, when I go to the country in Michigan or Indiana, I feel very free and peaceful. There are no distractions, or people who rush past you at every second. You can stop and watch for a while, and nothing will change. I feel like I can almost become apart of what I am seeing, and James Wright is feeling the exact same. In both, A Horse Grazes In My Shadow, and A Blessing, people are brought away from the hardships of their lives by the power of these horses.
To the left, I have included this reading of A Blessing by James Wright because Wright really captures the essence of the poem in the way he reads it. I imagine the scene of two guys in the 80s (I have no idea why), who stop by and see these two ponies. His voice is exactly the voice I was expecting. To me, this poem would not seem right if a girl, or a younger guy were saying it. Also, the picture this person put in the background of the video is exactly how I imagined the part where he "wants to hold the slenderer one in his arms."
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To Conclude my Anthology...
I really hope all of my poetry and the responses I have given you have helped you look at horses in a whole new and different way. Even if you seem to have understood them before, hopefully now you feel more connected. With the help of James Dickey, Ellen Hinsey, Matt Rasmussen, and James Wright I have created this anthology for all people of all ages to explore the wild and beautiful nature of horses. They can do so much more for us than just be there as barn animals. “Horses change lives. They give out young people confidence and self-esteem. They provide peace and tranquility to troubled souls, they give us hope.”- Toni Robinson
Bibliography
"A Blessing ~~~ James Wright." YouTube. YouTube, 02 June 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Horses, Wales." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013."Padlock Ranch Horse, Montana." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Wild Horses, France." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Wild Stallions, Wyoming." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 20
"Wild Horse, Mongolia." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Horses, Wales." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013."Padlock Ranch Horse, Montana." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Wild Horses, France." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
"Wild Stallions, Wyoming." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 20
"Wild Horse, Mongolia." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.