My father broke horses
cleared wombs
pulled calves
Never-ending breeds to birch
tied to the tailgate of a ‘57 Chevy
bit busted
they bucked him from their saddle
not me
not my mother
Mares
shoved under
stallions
their hooves carved his lover’s name
in mounds of shit
While mother shoveled stalls
a hundred times
never clean
enough
They’d drop
bile, blood, and grass
on her roses
until they grew, tall
robust
mad blooms
Pinkyellowpurplewhite
her American garden
the triumph of suburbia
drew wind
and blew
the scent of foreign women
into our neighbor’s yard
