Poetry | March 01, 2005

The Soldier Inside the Horse

A horse disemboweled on a battlefield
for the soldier to crawl inside.

A battlefield once green, once shagged
with bluegrass, now gouged and smoldering.

The soldier once a boy and now
a man inside a horse hollowed out.

The horse then the soldier’s costume,
the mouth an opening for his rifle

and not a mouth chewing the bluegrass.
Once the eye sockets cradled eyes

and now peepholes for the soldier
to survey the battlefield, smoldering

and gouged. Once green, once a boy
with strawberry jelly on his lips.

Once a ghost for Halloween with eyeholes
scissored into a bedsheet. An enemy

crosses the battlefield so gunfire
from the mouth of the horse,

so death. The man inside a solider,
the soldier once a boy who wanted

a pony. The horse once a horse,
galloping where the world was green.