The Licorice Daughter

Black Horses in Dreams (Before Ruffian)

When I think of Horses Kept in the Dark of Mines
Horses in the Snow
The Blue Horse Puzzle
Morgan Horse Farm
Sleeping with Horses
The Horse I never Had
The Horse Lullabies, the Insomnia
The Young Girl Dreams of Escape


Small and New in the Lamp of Her Mother’s Eye (Ruffian’s Birth)

With Blue Green Grass Holding Kentucky Night Water
Right After Birth
April, 1972
That First Summer
The Last Days in the Pasture, After the Hottest Days of Summer
Just Before Weaking Day


Taken, Picked Like Unripe Fruit (Weaning Ruffian)

Early, with Only Lanterns of Light
Weaning Day—1
With Starlight Still on the Pond Like Silver
Weaning Day—2
Weaning Day—3
In Their New Stalls
Now the Pastures Are Empty
Ruffian’s Last Weanling Month
Ruffian, If I Had Seen You at the Fence


As with Dancers the More Confident Fillies Were in Front

To Start, They
Like Ballet Warm-up at the Barre
By the Time the Horses File Around the Paddock
For Ruffian, a Squeal, a Few Bucks
After Days of Figure Eights in the Stall
Her Beautiful Thin Strong Legs
Some Nights I think of Her
Sky Colorless
Yearlings in the Pasture


She Was Good To Be Around (Ruffian as a Two-Year-Old)

It Was Her Stride, Long, Almost Dream Like, Floating
Before She Had Her Name
When I Look at Ryder’s Painting, The Race Track
Ruffian’s Maiden Race
Just Before Ruffian’s Maiden Race
Ruffian, Her First Race
That First Race in Black and White
She Was Transformed
Sometimes It Seemed She Wasn’t Real
Horse Tattoo
One Blacksmith Said He Could Pick Up an Anvil with One Hand
You Can’t Think Ahead
Saratoga, Ruffian’s Cradle


Other Horses Turned to Jelly When She Looked Them in the Eye (Ruffian as a Three-Year-Old)

 Recovery, After Ruffian’s Hairline Fracture
 In Camden, Ruffian Tossing
 By March Ruffian
 Ruffian
 Spring of Pods Near
 I Never Like To Stay Too Far Away from Ruffian—1
 I Never Like To Stay Too Far Away from Ruffian—2
 After Angel Cordero Tried to Tire Out Ruffian, Exhaust Her Early
 I Never Like To Stay Too Far Away from Ruffian—3
 Ruffian in the Winner’s Circle
 What’s Next
 When There Was Nothing Left for Her To Prove
 In the Blue Pewter Air
 She Wanted To Run, a Fast Dance
 That Last Spring Ruffian Was Ghostly
 She Was the Wonder, The Big Filly
 An Onyx Bundle of Energy
 It Always Ends the Same Way
 On the Day of Ruffian’s Match Race


Darkness Croons to Her Daughter (Ruffian’s Death)

 On the Day of Her Last Race
 On That Day
 July 6, 1975, That Day, Only Ruffian
 When the Ambulance Came
 After She Pulled Up, After the Blood Was Drying on July
 After the Accident
 She Was Jumping Around
 Her Jockey Moved in a Blur