If you like poetry and if you like horses, here is a big anthology of perhaps 300 poems by more than 170 leading contemporary poets. The collection was selected and edited by Suzan Jantz, editor of the Yarroway Mountain Press, www.yarrowaymountainpress.com. The California State University Research and Creativity Foundation provided a grant for the project.
Cadence of Hooves contains a broad range of horse-centered poems by horse lovers from every discipline. With permission, from time to time FHL will bring you selections from this lovely book. For the first such offering, here is a favorite of mine by 1986 Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Taylor.
Riding Lesson
I learned two things
from an early riding teacher.
He held a nervous filly
in one hand and gestured
with the other, saying, “Listen.
Keep one leg on one side,
the other leg on the other side,
and your mind in the middle.”He turned and mounted.
She took two steps, then left
the ground, I thought for good.
But she came back down, humped
her back, swallowed her neck,
and threw her rider as you’d
throw a rock. He rose, brushed
his pants and caught his breath,
and said, “See that’s the way
to do it. When you see
they’re gonna throw you, get off.”