Detritus: Pink Plastic Pony With the Wispy Blond Mane

roof/
lines

Detritus: Pink Plastic Pony With the Wispy Blond Mane

Finding it
I imagine it to have

fallen or been felled

out or from the car window

a window half way

up or down depending

on who you are

and the child
and her horse were

galloping next to the edge

of a fence on the edge

of a ledge on the edge

of the rounded
glass and took

the turn too tight

and spilled and spilled

and spilled first

slipping dumbly past

the thumb that held the flanks

or the bum depending
on who you are

the wind is what they both

loved the most

how when the car was

going full speed there

was something soft

to push into and they’d

both agreed the girl

and her horse

that the haunch

was the most secure

place to ride

a thumb

on one side a finger

on the other it was

the only thing

she ever did right-

handed her brother

sat on the driver’s side

and he played

a different game

and it required batteries

and made him distant

and frustrated but today

something startled her

and she let go

she fell

off she was caught

completely

off guard—

rain in her
face
a splinter of wind

and rain and one split

of thunder

came from the mouth

and hips
she did her best
not to think

of the babysitter

and then what was left
afterwards

of the blast of rain

and wind and lightning

sizzling up while

they blazed through

and took the corner

too tight and she was

sliding and her brother

cried and by the time

he was dry eyed she

recognized her hand

was bare from here

on out and it was

gone and in her crotch

was cotton

what mopped up

sorrow and she soaked

it and fogged up

the glass

of the rolled up window

and wrote a name

though no one knew

what it was and she asked

for the window to be closed

from then on and the huff

of her breath on a sunny day

could still be

visible especially when

the sun dosed behind
the car roof

and made her briefly

and momentarily

and mane-ly

free in the dark.