I need a bit of whimsy in these troubling days. As I join Bonny, Kat, and Kym in this new year for the first Gathering of Poetry, I offer the irreverent verse of Richard Brautigan. Although his poem initially reads like a fairytale there is no happy-ever-after ending – except for the dragon. Enjoy!
THE HORSE THAT HAD A FLAT TIRE
Once upon a valley
there came down
from some goldenblue mountains
a handsome young prince
who was riding
a dawncolored horse
named Lordsburg.
I love you
You're my breathing castle
Gentle so gentle
We'll live forever
In the valley
there was a beautiful maiden
whom the prince
drifted into love with
like a New Mexico made from
apple thunder and long
glass beds.
I love you
You're my breathing castle
Gentle so gentle
We'll live forever
The prince enchanted
the maiden
and they rode off
on the dawncolored horse
named Lordsburg
toward the goldenblue mountains.
I love you
You're my breathing castle
Gentle so gentle
We'll live forever
They would have lived
happily ever after
if the horse hadn't had
a flat tire
in front of a dragon's
house.
Bibliographic note and artistic credit:
Brautigan, Richard. “The Horse that had a Flat Tire” in The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. ©1968, pages18-19.. Delta Book, New York.
© AbbyKBrownArt, Roanoke, Virginia.
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