The Tartan

By Matthew Pedicone

I’ve got a horse heart
And hoofs
And a tail
A good man’s horse

I’m not just a horse
But an educated one
A West Point graduate
Who shot gun

Yes I was in Verdun
I was one with the trenches
And galloped over Germans
And helped all the Frenches

Now I’m a dancer
In Madrid, Spain
No longer a prancer
With horse mane

Now in Geneva
I’m a skinless scaled man
A trough without water
Trials I can’t stand

Who is my jockey
With these human hands
And opposable thumbs
And existential thought

I hold nothing
But the reigns
Of the life I lost
And the chains
Of a horse I’m not