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This poem is taken from PN Review 189, Volume 36 Number 1, September - October 2009.

Three Poems Tara Bergin

You Could Show a Horse
(An experiment in collage)

You could show a horse, you might see some riderless horse,
galloping among the rushing among the enemy with its mane in the
wind with his mane flying in the wind causing heavy casualties and
doing no little mischief with his heels
. Or you could show a man,
mutilated, some maimed warrior may be seen lying on the ground
fallen to the earth shielding himself in some way covering himself with
his shield
with his enemy bent over him and trying to while the enemy
bending over him tries to deal him a deathstroke
- or show a lot of
people fallen on to a dead horse A number of men fallen in a heap
over a dead horse
and you could show the men you would see
some of the victors
, leaving the fight, abandoning the conflict emerging
from the and issuing from the crowd using both hands rubbing their
eyes and cheeks with both hands
, to clean their faces, to clean them of
...


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