THE HORSE CALLER

[Sue Littleton]

A Texas cousin three thousand miles away
sent me a few unsolicited lines on the Internet.
“My rancher father never thought of you as a poet—
he always remembered that you could talk to horses.”

I recall those years of alienation, my affinity with animals.
As a child I wandered through the clean alleys of our little city,
climbed over fences to caress dogs penned in the backyards
of startled neighbors..
From three until twelve, an innocent, happy child...
At twelve I was poised on the edge of my descent
into the maelstrom of adolescence--
those confused years when poetry and pets
were all that would hold me back from madness.

Lovers, husbands, children became separate parts of my history,
The alienation was always there, visible as mild eccentricity--
but I was succored by creatures
who spoke no known language…
After years of conversations with animals
at last I could communicate with people,
relate to my own human condition,.
ever aware that I would have been consumed
by my inner distances,
that most of my poems would never have been written,
If I had not had that special apprenticeship to reality
when I learned to talk
to dogs, goats, cats,
and horses.

[dadio]

I really enjoyed reading this poem, Sue. I will read it again and again( not something I do often) and enjoy probably more each visit.

[Sue Littleton]

Thank you, Terry -- glad you liked it. I see you also communicate with animals. Sue♥

[.Lucy.]

Me gusta como escribes Sue.

[joel]

I'd heard about a daughter once who used
to roam alone, reciting poetries
to animals— to acrobats and bees
and alley-cats and street-dogs— unconfused
as subtleties’ complexities bemused
those ranchers who have never known what frees
a human’s soul to laugh with livestock, these
as friends and all possessive thoughts refused.

I’ve lately heard she’s poetried away—
not run away or spun astray, but moved
to pray, like horses and like hounds who’d been
best childhood friends, she’s wandered grown to say
hello to other audiences, grooved
in tongues of child and wild and yang and yin.

[mnaz]

the interconnected-ness, you realized it early on.

[jim turner]

Animals taught me a lot but nowhere near what you have learned from them. Ear and eye opener you are, as is Joel's response. Talents far beyond mine. jim

[Sue Littleton]

Thank you, dear friends. And your poem made tears come to my eyes, Joel... blurs the computer screen, sniffle. How wonderful that you could understand, connect, and write something so beautiful and poignant after reading The Horse Caller.

Jim turner, lucky for you that you are too far away for me to pop you one! Your poetry is wonderful, moving, profound and admirable. None of this false modesty, you hear? I think the responses to your poems, both here and on Algonquin, should have convinced you by now that you are truly a POET and that we love and appreciate you!

Abrazos.
Sue♥♥♥