Rides Horses
of his chevy el camino with the burst
four-on-the-floor
blue cloud rides psychedelic horses
and some made of remembered pain
blue cloud rides horses that leave hoof trails
up and down his atrophic veins
blue cloud rides cellblock horses
made of steel bars and thick walls
and when he gets out he rides horses again
blue cloud rides his baby's horse
and it makes him cry and it makes him cry
and it makes him want to forget
and makes him want and want and nearly die of want
blue cloud rides horses he thinks he hates
named officer custer john smith
de soto jefferson jackson lincoln
columbus cortez and BIA
blue cloud rides horses he remembers he loved
named gin for the father he loved
named wild irish rose for the mother he loved
blue cloud rides ephemeral horses
sewn from dreamskin and old chants
named blue cloud and red cloud and white cloud
and grey clouds that rain faded dreams
blue cloud rides wind war-horses
on the ghost breezes
of the little big horn's plains
and he always wins and he always wins
blue cloud rides horses that ride him
harder and faster to the vanishing haze
From Poetry Like Bread
©2000, Curbstone Press