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The Horse Caller
A cousin three thousand miles away
sent me a few unsolicited lines on the Internet.
"My rancher father never thought of you as a poet-
he always remembered that you could talk to horses."
I recall those years of alienation, my affinity with animals.
As a child I wandered through the clean alleys of our little city,
climbed over fences to caress dogs penned in the backyards
of startled neighbors..
From three until twelve, an innocent, happy child...
At twelve I was poised on the edge of my descent
into the maelstrom of adolescence--
those confused years when poetry and pets
were all that would hold me back from madness.
Lovers, husbands, children became separate parts of my history,
The alienation was always there, visible as mild eccentricity--
but I was succored by creatures
who spoke no known language…
After years of conversations with animals
at last I could communicate with people,
relate to my own human condition,
ever aware that I would have been consumed
by my inner distances,
that most of my poems would never have been written,
If I had not had that special apprenticeship to reality
when I learned to talk
to dogs, goats, cats,
and horses.
Sue Littleton has been writing for 50 years. Her experiences come from a sheep ranch in West Texas to the sophisticated capital of Argentina,
and from 18 years in Buenos Aires to Austin,Texas.
A college education is a wonderful thing. She graduated at age 57. Her poetry returned to her with intense joy and a range unknown before
the mind-dazzling experiences of undergraduate studies.
Email: Sue Littleton
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