She Wants to Be All Horse
She wants to be all horse,
stars sparking from hooves,
galloping though fields
of thistle and milkweed.
She wants fists of poppies
to wall her papa’s window,
opiates to tar the locks.
In her house, sewerwater
gurgles from faucets,
leaves mold in closets
and at 4 AM, the ping
of a dropped belt
on a daughter’s floor.
She wants to steal basil plants
from the neighbor’s porch,
smash them one by one,
then twist the stray tabby’s tail,
shave its fur and strap it
to a leash the length of an arm.
She wants to watch pines burn.
She wants him in the house
when it catches.
Claudia Cortese, from Best New Poets 2011
