Dad would not allow us pets,

there was only room for horses

on the TV, in the Sporting Life,

the littering of losing bets

 

those Canadians and Yankees

that were not foreign people

but subjects closer to his heart

cloaked in foreign language.

 

The majesty of muscled flesh

reduced to numbers by a name,

its place within life’s handicap

ruled in short heads, necks and lengths

 

the distance between first and next

from father and his family

increasing as the whip was raised,

wider as the race progressed.