In bright dress, her horse she did acquit.
In bright dress, her dress she did acquit.
Silver diva in haste, she did acquit
Her horse did speed in brightness
Towards the verdant grass and trees
Verdant she had known
Her dress, too heavy
What turned heads she felt
She sped to the edge of city-forest
Then, many miles, took herself
To a place of sacredness, she thought
High in turns about the mountain path
To have the dream cure
—to be held above a volcanic world
she
was both fed dreams and
she sent them out, fast ticker tape
from god’s window, or was it hers?
She ate of food that can’t be named.
Met those who can’t be seen
(true it was, I was there)
Slept with centuries.
And then.
The heat vest, one man put on another, or the cold chilling one.
Or one sent out for a list of books she was whispered not to find
But to replace.
To mix drinks from powders that could kill. They had
To make the others suffer
The beaded gown of her horse she did acquit.
A silver thing she fled the very edge
Where hill had stopped and horse had stopped
Unpeopled she thought, she drove her bright
Through with ordeal back
Though lush of time did pass
Her horse she set free
From behind bars
She saw racing hill & bright
She had to find a way to leave this
Dictatorship, what else to call it
Others left
Each stick of furniture was Argus-like
& stared her chill body away
Could she die she might see the fringed
Trees that locked her here
She couldn’t recall the boat’s name
Or why she had been taken
Except she dropped her dress
And bared her back
Why had her country been taken?
So that she could be trained to slave and shove
Then she saw
Millions lined up for euthanasia they called it
Where there I saw someone I knew
My mother! My own mother. In hospital gown.
She had a sore ankle just like I who now limped.
There were too few doctors so the leaders marched them on.
She passed along with the crowd of
Mary blue & white gowns that kept falling off
Those silly strings
After a prolonged instant
She raced back to find her waiting in a room,
Drugged, waiting for her turn
She took her away to hide and talk
The forest was gone and the horse
Only the smell of its musty coat