The First Poem

The first poem I found was left by someone next to a horse I put out near NW 11th and Everett. It stayed there a long time, but eventually the horse and then the poem disappeared. I replaced them both.

This is the poem:

There's a horse on 11th Avenue
who is roped to a hitching post
as if in Tombstone, not Portland.
He's built straight like a bridge; at times,
topples, yet always finds his feet,
never throws his sense of humor.

I will buy him a used saddle;
he'll like the smell of a good horse.
He needs a trough of water, too,
one bucketful of oats. I'll bring
blankets each night to temper chill.

I'll give him a name that's friendly,
like Henry. Then people will shout,
"Hey, Henry! How's it going, bud?"
when they run past him on the street.
Will they bring him Gala apples?

No silly hats for ol' Henry
except on his birthday when he
is in a festive mood. I'll feed
the parking meter – there'll never
be a ticket stuck in his mane.

I don't wish to meet his owner,
only share genial Henry, boy
toy who stands one-hand high, is made
of resin. He makes a town draw
back pursed lips, show its grinning teeth.

 

Kim and I wrote a poem to put out with the horses that keep getting stolen - check out the poem on the Pearl Bakery Horse page.

Here's another one: (also on the Join Us page)

          The Portland Pony Project

It seems that we gallop through life in a haze
And don't notice the things we race by every day
Until a time comes when a change will occur
That will cause us to notice, stop and confer
We talk to our neighbors; ask "was that always there?"
"I never saw it before", the neighbors declare.

So it was with the horse rings 'til Scott came along
Thinking "I've an idea that could gather a throng!"
He found some toy horses and tied them up tight
Then sat back to watch and see if they might
Cause people to notice what was always around;
What they had been missing – now they had found.

Now many people will pause for awhile
And others will notice, and they also smile
To see these small horses tied up to the rings
Where once their much bigger brothers had been
And maybe they'll even see a bit more
Of what they've been missing; it's happened before!

His project is spreading and now there's a herd
Of horse-loving folks who've also been spurred
To add some small horses to places near you
Hoping they’ll catch you smiling too.
Watch over our ponies, maybe bring them a rider
And we can make Portland a little bit brighter.

 

I also wrote a sort of story poem (A Tale of Two Ponies) that is on the NE Portland Horse Stories page.

 

Then I decided that people really didn't want to stop and read a long poem, so I wrote some much shorter ones.