AGED CIRCUS PONY

bridle cut
reins torn off
Locked in the field
spiked with saplings
laced with briars
prey to wolves
She hears the band
breaks into a dance
leaps the fence
A leg snaps
and she tumbles
in the thorns
Takes a crane
to right her
drag her to a trench
She breaks away
leaps the fence
leads the band

GOING THE DISTANCE

“You going the distance, honey, with me?”
asked the handsome professor, revving
his Harley. “I’ve a room, we can hide out—”
I clung to his back while
we zoomed between Iowa cornfields
off to his college where I was meant
to accept first prize for me first book.
On arrival he said, “Too stoned to teach.
Take over my class…Let’s meet tonight—”
A fieldful of crows rose, flew out of sight,
I too slipped away…But forever whenever
I see a Harley, I remember his invitation…

UP THE TRAIL TOWARD THE GAP

Must climb this mountain!
Grass lies beige, geese gather grey.
I’m glad for my grey coat.

To blend in, my lifelong quest.
Why this sense of outsider even when
I am not? The geese fly off.

The tangled trail is maze of twists,
the far side known to hold a meadow
with herbs for wisdom, longevity…

Timber wolves! They snatch my rations,
my coat, run ahead up the trail, look back
as if daring me to follow…More wolves!

One she-wolf sniffs me, grabs me, drags me
through the gap, into a cave—She drops me,
guards me, the rest disappear through the maze—

Elisavietta Ritchie, Solomon’s Island, Maryland