Dark Horse - Karen Rigby

To be the dark horse,

pummel raked conclusions,

inhale

riderless—

engine groomed

from nothing—

thief of your good name

that I might reside

among legends

and lavish gestures: rose grazing

the ice rink. The hearse

searing roadways

to gangplanks.

To be the gun like a water hammer.

Hoard sevens and snake eyes.

Do one exceptional thing,

which was justice

in the last shall be first,

windburn through the blind swerve.

The paddock vacant of hoofprints

and the gate sprung clear

of hornets and gorse fields—

I waited all my life

for the dry track,

the streetfight brutal with gold.

Originally published in the author’s poetry collection Chinoiserie, Ahsahta Press, 2012

Karen Rigby is the author of Chinoiserie (Ahsahta Press, 2012) and Fabulosa (JackLeg Press, 2024). She lives in Arizona. www.karenrigby.com