The Palouse (in memory of an Appaloosa Horse), Free-verse Options

[jerryk]

The Palouse (Appaloosa Horse)

Bred by Nez Perce tribes along
the Palouse River, your ancestors
gave you those pleasing traits

you spotted horse, with the distinct
sclera; not two of you look quite
alike in markings of the skin

Once, some lover of another breed
scoffed at the sight of you:
“This Indian horse is the only breed
the lamest warrior could catch with ease”

He looked at you, and you gazed
at him, and I saw mischief flicking
in your eye—one that is so human-like

And while we talked some more
about the price of good horseflesh,
he praised the Quarter Horse—

that’s when you raised one light-dark
striped hoof, as though by chance,
and stepped on his booted foot

I laughed, “My friend, now go an’ try
to catch a slow Palouse”

But you grew old, and when
your time came, no killers took
your dappled coat or rendered
flesh and bones

You rest beneath a desert
pasture’s scanty grass, far away
from the Palouse River Valley

and I remember you as a horse
quite worthy of the beaded trapping
you wore at your last parade.