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Poem of the Week: Horse

A new work by Mary O’Malley

Photograph: iStock
You have been faithful for centuries
while asteroids collided with planets
shades slipped in and out of bodies
like hands in gloves. You’re back
in spite of snubs and past neglect,
this time in a roadside field beside
an ordinary house. You slip in
head high and arrogant, calling me.

I see by your eyes, it’s my last chance.
What did you expect, they say, praise?
This time, there is no passing you by.
I might as well get up on your back
and see who in the end tames who,
or let go, and see where you take me.

Horse is from Mary O’Malley’s new collection, The Shark Nursery (Carcanet) which will be launched in Books Upstairs, D'Olier Street, Dublin. on Sunday, July 14th.
Mary O’Malley: develops the idea of art’s dark origins in swift, mysterious poems. Photograph: Frank Miller