Lyn Lifshin
March 30, Just Past Midnight
She was warm and her
nostrils, wild. Ready,
nearly ready. Only
the mare
’s breath like
a silence you could
understand. The mare
on straw on her side
and just past midnight
the tip of one foot.
Then, gently as some
one kissing eyes that
are crying, the foaling
man reached in to ease
a folded leg out of the
birth canal
Once the Shoulder Emerged
the men moved closer in the
long blue damp wind. Blood
on
the warm straw. The mare’s
body
opening. The men pull
gently.
Slosh of water and
then
the foal’s slippery body,
iodine
and the smell of birth
in
the wind the minutes
after midnight
“A
wooper,”
“white feet, a lovely
colt,"
in Secretariat's record
fan
book. “Lovely,” was
underlined
twice.
Riveted to Secretariat’s Bursting Forth
those easing him from
Somethingroyal’s body
said he was on his feet
in twenty minutes, in
45 he was nursing. “Big
strong, male foal with
plenty of bone.” Warm
breath of horses, Carolina
Riverwind. In her log,
Elizabeth Ham the farm
secretary wrote “well
made colt, good straight
hind legs, good shoulders,
good quarters: you
have to like him.”
In Penny Chennery’s Notebook after the Night of Drizzle, Rain
as the river settled
and willow leaves
yellowed: one
word: Wow
On that First Day Was Somethingroyal
his mare panting?
puzzled? Those huge
shoulders. Something
she couldn't see
quivering thru her.
The mare had foaled
easily before but
this time, even with
her feet on the dirt floor,
easier footing than
cement but this time
with the foal’s fore leg
folded like a petal
before it opens,
someone following
the mare’s contractions
gently eased him out of
the birth canal. Beautiful
the vet remembered,
his legs were perfect,
he had a beautiful
head and was
red as fire
Lyn Lifshin’s Another Woman Who Looks Like Me was published by Black Sparrow at David Godine in October, 2006. (Also out in 2006 is her prize-winning book about the famous, short-lived racehorse, Ruffian: The Licorice Daughter: My Year With Ruffian from Texas Review Press.) Lifshin's other recent books include Before it’s Light, published in 1999-2000 by Black Sparrow press, following their publication of Cold Comfort in 1997 and 92 Rapple from Coatism: Lost in the Fog and Barbaro: Beyond Brokenesss and Light at the End, the Jesus Poems, Katrina, Ballet Madonnas. For other books, bio, photographs see her web site: www.lynlifshin.com. Persephone was published by Red Hen, and Texas Review published Barbaro: Beyond Brokenness. Most recent books: Ballroom, All the Poets (Mostly) Who Have Touched me, Living and Dead. All True, Especially the Lies. And just out, Knife Edge & Absinthe: The Tango Poems. In July 2013, NYQ books published A Girl Goes into The Woods. Also just out: For the Rosespoems after Joni Mitchell and Hitchcock Hotel from Danse Macabre. Forthcoming books include Secretariat: The Red Freak, The Miracle. And Tangled as the Alphabet —The Istanbul Poems from NightBallet Press. Just released, the DVD of Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass.
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