riding partners

we, us two partners, will ride out
of the stables
in the morn

will cross the pre-dawn dew
on cold wet hooves

tearing whatever fences we come across
with one swift crash
breaking those brown skeletons
with tough hide
and momentum

"cowgirl bowling"

and when i squint hard
cos the artic wind
your muscular grey horse
looks like a mechanical baby elephant
galloping along
when you speed up flirtatiously
putting thirty feet of green hair
between us

we built a fire
in the woods at dark
amidst teenager's abandoned pornographic magazines
what sordid leaves we've sat upon

orange glow paints the windows of the distant cabin
not from the warmth of the fire
but from the bowl of clementines
on the oak coffee table
but we'll ride on without ever meeting the inhabitant

and talk about coffee in the cold mornings of the trip
like it was some divine elixir
maybe it is

"we could have fed our horse a cup or two
watch them things sprint untiring"

my partner, my dear
you thought that might be animal cruelty
but a good talk, even though

you were working on a poem then
"bumblebees and trees"

the teenage years of non-human animals
are just as awkward and embarassing for them

the umbilical phone cord
stretched along with us