Photo & Poem: Ghost

October 15, 2018 / Anna Blake / No Comments

 

Her big sister won a contest, sharing breakfast
with minor horse celebrities, so this shy red-haired
girl with glasses came, too. I ask about her horse,
did she have a photo? Beaming, every pore of

her face fills with light. Her mom looks on her
phone as the girl explains that her horse was old
and came to be a companion only, but they ride,
and graze and sometimes jump, she says, proud

to have discovered a special treasure others had
missed. She passes me a photo of an Appaloosa
mare, head low with ancient eyes and a rusty roan
color, a horse that doesn’t draw attention, her

trot must wrestle with gravity, only lightened by
the weight of this red-haired girl. His ghost gives
me a nudge, black spots on a pink muzzle, “She’s
beautiful,” I say, “I’ve always loved Appaloosas.”

 

…
Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Horse Advocate, Author, Clinician, Equine Pro
…
Planning our 2019 clinic schedule now. Email me at [email protected] for details.
Consider my latest book, Horse Prayers, Poems from the Prairie.

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Anna Blake

0 thoughts on “Photo & Poem: Ghost”

  1. This is an offer of exquisite insight when ” his ghost gives you a nudge “ and a good laugh for my bones with “wrestle with gravity”. Many thanks.

    cw

    Reply

  6. Why is it that when I read your posts I will often say THIS is my favorite one.
    Then I read one like today, and I think, “No, THIS is my favorite one!’
    Your poems sometimes remind me of haiku, in that they are distilled down to just the essence of an emotion. Today’s poem was beautiful, your last line “She’s beautiful “, I say, “I’ve always loved Appaloosas” was so perfect.

    Reply

    • I feel a bit similar, they get fidgeted together, words cut to the bone, and then I almost don’t recognize them when I read them, and they are all my favorite… Thanks, Shelley.

      Reply

  9. This made my heart happy. Happy for this little girl and her horse that is cherished, and for your kindness. And also for your gift. You transport and lift up in the space of a few sentences.

    Reply

  11. ? I was once a red haired girl with glasses, way before cell phones or the internet. My heart memories remember long, lazy autumn rides in the forest preserve on my beautiful palomino, Jo. I will never forget or stop loving that girl and her horse.

    Reply

  12. Goosebumps, this gave me goosebumps! So beautiful and full of insight. Having just lost my beloved old gelding Patches at age thirty-one. This beautiful post also made me cry as I consider the unspoken wisdom in the old mare’s eyes, just like my Patches displayed in his soulful and kind eyes.

    Reply

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