THE RIDER IN AUTUMN
by Phil Hey
Nearing the end of November, she saddles
her handsome horse for one last lesson
against the north wind she knows surely
will grow colder; though she and her horse
lean happily into the task, hearing
and following the instructor’s voice.
And suddenly she is once again seven,
and it is May 1966, as she shows
her father how well she can ride the pony
he has just given her. See how she holds the reins
just so, her eyes concentrated, her mouth set
almost in a grin; and proud, proud of her own pony
that she can so ride by herself,
as her father, seeing that glint in her eye,
is also proud of her. And then she returns
to now, 2003, and she is forty-four,
and her father dead of a heart attack
the same year he chose that pony for her,
and the pony is gone, and several more
sold away to meet the needs of a hard life
as she grew up, went away to school,
worked in three states but always loved horses,
keeping one when she could, dreaming always
of one that could bear her to high competition,
which now she has. Which chews at his bit
wondering where they will go next
at her bidding, and then he knows, and
canters off with her still joyful, still ready
to show her father once more, her new horse
and just how well she can ride now.
"The Rider in Autumn" is from Phil Hey's newest book, How It Seems To Me: New & Selected Poems issued recently by MWPH Books. The book may be ordered from Tom Montag, PO Box 8, Fairwater, WI 53931 for $12.50 + $2 s&h. Phil Hey has been writing and teaching at Briar Cliff University since 1969, and he is now a professor in the English/Writing Department. He received a B.A. in English at Monmouth College in 1964 and an M.F.A. at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop in 1966. He also studied creative writing under Gwendolyn Brooks at the University of Wisconsin. In 1992 he won Briar Cliff's Duff Award for the Pursuit of Excellence, and in 1998 he was given the Literacy Award for college English teachers by the Iowa Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts. Published in numerous magazines and anthologies, Phil is the author of several collections of poetry: In Plain Sight, Reorganizing the Stars, Plain Label Poems, A Change of Clothes, Ballads & Songs. His poem "Route 39 south of Pittsville" won a Rainmaker Award from Zone 3 magazine. He has also received a dozen commissions for poems, most recently from the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque. As an editor, Phil has co-edited the Iowa Poets series with Zachary Pearce of Pterodactyl Press, including Michael Carey's The Noise the Earth Makes, Ann Struthers' Stoneboat, and James Hearst's posthumous A Country Man. He also edits for Celestial Light Press and The Briar Cliff Review, Briar Cliff's national prize-winning magazine of writing and art. He assisted Michael Carey in the editing of Voices on the Landscape: Contemporary Iowa Poets (Loess Hills Books).
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A NOTE TO THE POETS OUT THERE
I'm interested in considering your "poems of place" for publication in The Middlewesterner's "Saturday's Poem" feature; send two or three of your best in the body of an e-mail addressed to [email protected] . Put "Saturday's Poem" in the subject line. Then be patient. I will get back to you about whether I'll use your work or not. Send along a short biographical note and information about where your books can be purchased and I'll include that when your poem runs. There's no payment involved for having your work appear in "Saturday's Poem," but the feature is seen by some few high class readers. Click here for complete index of and access to "Saturday's Poems" poems published prior to September 18, 2004.
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