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15 E l l a r a i n e L o c k i e Rebellion Stay away from amusement park rides country roads and horses said the neurologist after the rupture of a disc Could have been my father dictating that rivers, convertibles and horses were too dangerous for his only daughter Who had to pretend with a stick horse named Trigger In middle age I have blossomed in the fiery glow of rebellion The embers fall like petals surrounding Sadie Me in neck brace and cowboy boots She the bridge connecting me to hallowed ground of my family homestead Reason says the oatcakes I’ve fed her every summer account for the whole-heart gift of submission she grants me Instinct says she knows age and hard times had her headed for the dog food factory And that we were related long before I adopted her That our ancestors have entwined for generations Back at the barn the last foal she’ll ever have whinnies She answers a comfort but another call too From the open range, clover and wild grasses We continue her easy gait Heedless to a red-tailed hawk’s scream as he circles a prairie dog hole 16 Below hooves crunch rattlepod Pound smells of sage, dropseed and manure out of the soil our grandparents toiled Sustenance we breathe in as we move toward the flames of sunset in front of us Like sisters following the same trail Manes flying free in the prairie breeze ...

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