Home > Work > She Had Some Horses
1 " She had some horses.She had some horses she loved.She had some horses she hated.These were the same horses. "
― Joy Harjo , She Had Some Horses
2 " Raw red cliffs that youstumbled down into your own shadowhaven't kept you away, or softred lights and strange electricalmusic that I play. "
3 " Because who would believethe fantastic and terrible story of all of our survivalthose who were never meant to survive? "
4 " You took me onceto an older part of earthI'd never seen—where monsters were bornand killed.They sacrificed everythingand nothingfor a taste of thislife. "
5 " her eyes closed against someunimagined darkness, where she is buried in an achein which nothing makessense. "
6 " My heart is taken by youand these mornings since I am a horse running towardsa cracked sky where there are countless dawnsbreaking simultaneously.There are two moons on the horizonand for youI have broken loose. "
7 " The woman hangs from the 13th floor window crying forthe lost beauty of her own life. She sees thesun falling west over the grey plane of Chicago.She thinks she remembers listening to her own lifebreak loose, as she falls from the 13th floorwindow on the east side of Chicago, or as sheclimbs back up to claim herself again. "
8 " Some will not see them.But some will see the horses with their hearts of sleeping volcanoesand will be rocked awakepast their bodiesto see who they have become. "
9 " In my family Monahwee is known for his magic with horses. My Aunt Lois Harjo said he was gifted in the ability to travel on a horse. He could leave for a destination at the same time as everyone else, but arrive before anyone, a feat impossible in linear time.The world doesn't always happen in a linear manner. Nature is much more creative than that, especially when it comes to time and the manipulation of time and space. Europe has gifted us with inventions, books and the intricate mechanics of imposing structures on the earth, but there are other means to knowledge and the structuring of knowledge that have no context in the European mind.When the explorer Magellan traveled around the world by ship, he stopped at Tierra del Fuego. The indigenous people who resided there could not see the huge flags of his ships as they docked out in the natural harbor. They had not previously imagined such structures and could not see them. Conversely, neither could European explorers see the particular meaning of indigenous realities. "
10 " earth, sky, stars circlingmy heart "
11 " The Poem I Just WroteThe poem I just wrote is not real.And neither is the black horsewho is grazing on my belly.And neither are the ghostsof old lovers who smile at mefrom the jukebox. "
12 " UntitledEither a snail's moist webof moonlight, or someone'shot breath at four a.m.when the night has beentoo much, has eatenyou whole.This is my life.It has beensifted through the bonesof my body, throughblood.It is all thatI have. "
13 " Oh, you have choked me, but I gave you the leash.You have gutted me but I gave you the knife.You have devoured me, but I laid myself across the fire. "
14 " MoonlightI know when the sun is in Chinabecause the night shining other-lightcrawls into my bed. She is moon.Her eyes slit and yellow she is the lastone out of a dingy bar in Albuquerque—Fourth Street, or from similar avenuesin Hong Kong. Where someone else has alsoawakened, the night thrown back and asked,'where is the moon, my lover'?And from here I always answer in my dreaming,'the last time I saw her was in the armsof another sky'. "
15 " Under our ribsour hearts are bloody stars. Shine onshine on, and horses in their galloping flightstrike the curve of ribs. "
16 " Her own daughterwas born, like she had been, in either placeor all places, so she could leave, leapinto the sound she had always heard,a voice like water, like the gods weavingagainst sundown in a scarlet light. "
17 " She thinks of the 4 a.m. lonelinesses that have foldedher up like death, discordant, without logical and beautiful conclusion. "
18 " But what captured him was a light in the riverfolding open and openblood, heart and stonesshimmering like the Milky Way. "
19 " Remember you are this universe and thisuniverse is you. "
20 " I thought my dance alone through worlds ofodd and eccentric planets that no one else knewwould sustain me. "
