Stallion
trudging through norfolk… fields… I find
a lone horse… a bag… on its mouth
and I’m thirteen again
in the farmyard… of the school… changing… rooms
a tall… muscly …stallion
kicks me… to the floor… I land… on all fours
he forces my… head… into his… gym bag
to sniff… his salt… sweet… shorts
he snorts… stamps… brays… trots off
to the showers… I hear the slam
of locker doors and… picture prisons… but
it’s a gate… being closed
in this field… I walk on… thinking of that
animal… praying… he has been… put down
…
James McDermott’s debut poetry collection Manatomy is published by Burning Eye. James’s poems have been published in various magazines including The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Cardiff Review, Popshot Quarterly, Ink Sweat and Tears, Spelt, Confluence, Bitchin’ Kitsch and Dawntreader. Twitter: jamesliammcd Order copies of Manatomy here: https://jamesmcdermott.bigcartel.com/product/manatomy-signed
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