This Is Not a Horse

It looks as if it has only now risen from the stall bed, straw clinging to its body the color of mud, but we know from the artist it is made of rag paper pulp cracking, fibers like small hairs, ribbons of bamboo leaves, steel and chicken wire to look like an animal bending down to drink perhaps from a bucket of water. A hoof implies the presence of the whole horse. A saddle implies a horse and a rider. Where are you taking me? In the barn, they crane their necks to see who's coming. I feel the weight, the gesture in my own body. You become the horse: Bonfire. White Crane A horse is a prayer. The meaning changes every day.