April is National Poetry Month. I will try to post a number of poems that are not ones most people have run into, at least not often. Today it's "Riding Lesson" by Henry Taylor.
I learned two things
from an early riding teacher.
He held a nervous filly
in one hand and gestured
with the other, saying: "Listen,
Keep one leg on one side,
the other leg on the other side,
and our mind in the middle."
He turned and mounted.
She took two steps, then left
the ground, I thought for good.
But she came down hard, humped
her back, swallowed her neck
and threw her rider as you would
throw a rock. He rose, brushed
his pants and caught hisG breath,
and said, "See that's the way
to do it. When you see
they're going to throw you, get off."
