\D E A T {H :: O R S E} \\\

Abstract

\D E A T {H :: O R S E} \\\ Rosebud Ben-Oni (bio) Keywords poetry, Rosebud Ben-Oni, death, horse, steed, tease Only death::orse is real. Only forward is unhorse & the little graces & galactic undeeds—& you can't slick nor kick to spur(n) a :: direhorse :: can never own a force what demands direct interhorse, & all else shadows its course, outer :: rims :: :: truehorse :: all else so sterile & spay, recital of leadenhorseparade, the whole bon -fade of you, trumpet& waylay, bitter miles of mouthpiece & smug malaise. Try to face this death :orse :: [End Page 653] get hothoof & blizz -away in our soot unwired from spout & without us what elseis your mount but :: echo to unshout what else is there without us what :: am I but S P A C E H O R S E sin state :: & I never was & will not be uneased into your dolt & shrink, will not linear what I am into a damning, desperate scheme, will not givebreath when you strike & wheeze {what is a force without interaction but} [End Page 654] :: please :: I am D E A T {H :: O R S E} am DIREHORSE & you cannot invent me. No flick of star wrist nor wrench :: from therealreal bleed no not you you're not {of horse} without us what else is D E A T {H :: O R S E} but dare go on speak onlycrash:orse I dare nothing without us what else is there lying quietly, stuporshorsed go [End Page 655] on try to bend this steed steel a name go off high your own steam I am every {:: hence:forth ::} I am some not here {already some :: :: wildUnplace :: :: :: tease— [End Page 656] Rosebud Ben-Oni rosebud ben-oni is the author of several collections of poetry, including If This Is the Age We End Discovery, which won the Alice James Award and was a Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Her work appears in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day, Poetry Society of America (PSA), Tin House, Guernica, and Electric Literature, among others. Her poem "Poet Wrestling with Angels in the Dark" was commissioned by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in NYC, and in May 2022, Paramount commissioned her video essay "My Judaism Is a Wild Unplace" for a monthlong television campaign for Jewish Heritage Month. Copyright © 2022 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.