American Life in Poetry

I love poems with sudden surprises, and here’s one by Jennifer Gray, a Nebraskan. Will you ever see depressions puddled with rain without thinking of the image at her conclusion?

Horses

The neighbor’s horses idle

under the roof

of their three-sided shelter,

looking out at the rain.

Sometimes

one or another

will fade into the shadows

in the corner, maybe

to eat, or drink.

Still, the others stand,

blowing out their warm

breaths. Rain rattles

on the metal roof.

Their hoof prints

in the corral

open gray eyes to the sky,

and wink each time

another drop falls in.