Horse Latitudes by Jo Sarzotti

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 16, 2014   Horse Latitudes   Jo Sarzotti

The past lies in the brine                            Of equatorial water, Parchment-folded, Black ink veining where the quill paused.   Rich doldrums                             Full of gold Where Spanish sailors                             Threw the Queen’s horses, Palomino, the color of her hair.   On the Outer Banks                           Each wave a breaking  Promise of the New World,                            Lost colonies, Lost ships, wild ponies                                         Swimming even now.            Copyright © 2014 by Jo Sarzotti. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “This poem existed unfinished for quite a while, in particular, the parts referring to the colonial era practice of lightening cargo ships becalmed in equatorial waters (‘horse latitudes’) by unloading livestock overboard. It took a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and confronting the eerie mysteries of the origin of wild, roaming horses and lost colonies of settlers to finish it.” —Jo Sarzotti   Jo Sarzotti is the author of Mother Desert (Graywolf Press, 2012).  She directs the Liberal Arts Department at The Juilliard School and lives in New York City. Most Recent Book by Sarzotti   Mother Desert (Graywolf Press, 2012) "Last Century" by Wyatt Prunty "Dead Horse" by Thomas Lux "The Past" by Michael Ryan Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038