the truth of
the bleeding horse is this
there is no bleeding horse
there is your sister with her
boyfriend’s hands tight around her throat
there are the children
^
what she tells you is
i love him
this and that he has
disappeared again
that a woman calls at least
three times a day asking for him
what she tells you is familiar
and it tastes of pain
^
and this is not the age of saints
the addicts won’t be saved
or even remembered
and she tells you i love him
tells you she has seen the bleeding horse
in the first light of day
stumbling blind towards the interstate