Each horse in this frieze is unique in temperament and personality. No horse is a duplicate of any

other; the arrangement of head, neck, body, and limbs differs in each, even if only slightly…

– “Horse Care as Depicted on Greek Vases before 400 B.C.”, Mary B. Moore


I
On the frieze

plaster has peeled

across one flank

and buttock
open-book

nicked stone

feels parched

as meat.
All along the wall

stern forelegs bend in

towards lined bellies, flush

and veined in plaster.
More frozen steeds

arching for

the best hands

money can pass.
II
Your face is familiar

from the walls at

my university, and here

you are also mounted:
stunned eye stretched bare,

plum nostrils and mouth

peeled back, as though

reined to breakage line.
They have no ear

for you here, either –

eyelids hollow as your

plaster body, lower set
than in Perth. I itch

to translate distance

palming forehead, but will

not provoke ejection.
III
No mouth

is identical

along any

frieze here.
Each pony

is strung

up, erect

lip curls
neck bulges with

indignant whispers,

museum rush

of waterline manes
missing Centauric

claim of body,

smooth agency

of traded plaster.
IV
These teeth are poised

for battle.

Hock arcs to tuck

chipped hooves

to strike.

To fight is no

foreign thought,

though all known equine bickering

pales before

such organised iron intent

to maim.

Each leap and snap

for display

is rerouted, ridden down

no path

any horse could hope

to follow.