The following poem is by Faber poet Jack Underwood, and is one of the poems with which he one an Eric Gregory Award in 2007. It is loosely about the speakers recognition that the pre-pubescent 'horse' - the innocent hobby - of his girlfriends past has been 'erased' and is 'replaced' with the image of the teenage boyfriend. Images of coming-of-age, intrusion and the relationship between these two male characters are particularly resonant...
Your horse
has arrived and is bending himself into the room,
refolding his legs. I knuckle his nose,
which reminds me of the arm of a chair.
He is talking low and steady,
rolling back an eye towards his chestnut brain.
Man-words are climbing his long throat.
I show him to the bathroom
and he is embarrassed. Next he is hoofing
through your photo album.
There are more of me, than of him.
We are crunching on polo mints together
and remembering the way your body use to move.
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