Wednesday 26 March 2003

WALKABOUTSVERSE 146 OF 230

Poem 146 of 230:  HORSES FOR COURSES?

To some (in income-anticipation),
    Horse baulking, at gates, is a small debase;
To me, it seems a memory/fear case
    Over the coming whip-castigation.
To some, the winning jockey’s elation
    Is the highlight of an ended horserace;
To me, the horse’s bulged veins and scared face
    Undermine the winners’ celebration.
I can’t condone a punter’s desire
    To gamble rather than earn a living,
    But can acknowledge a jockey’s courage;
I can’t see and think as a raced courser,
    Nor feel the scrapes fences are giving,
    But find horses choiceless in their bondage.

(C) David Franks 2003

The Gift Horse, Trafalgar Square; 3/5/2016

King George IV Statue, Trafalgar Sq.; 3/5/16

Stubbs' Whistlejacket, London's 
National Gallery; 30/5/2016

The Boudiccan Rebellion statue,
Westminster, London; 26/8/16

Manchester Art Gallery; 9/3/17

Bronze of a  Moroccan Berber Horse in the
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha; 8/12/2017

By Bridgewater Canal towpath; June 2021

National Railway Museum, York; 29/9/21

Blackpool Promenade, Lancashire; 29/9/22

Marly Horses, Louvre, Paris; 28/5/2023

Horses in a field, painted by my grandfather