CALLIOPE HORSE

CALLIOPE HORSE

What small hands
have pulled at that bit
what balancing children
have leaned forward
to catch the brass ring
and what jaunty tune played
on the calliope of the mind?

O horse of joined wood
painted with a lion's tail,
who holds the bit without reins
between wooden teeth
while I hold him firm
between my runaway
thighs?

1/10/1986
Oakland Museum
added, rev. 3/18