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Cosmic Dreamer: April 27, 2001
Bred for it,
you had no choice but to run.
So I bet on you
because of your name? Lineage?
Your jockey’s colours?
Obviously you couldn’t lose.
A blue day, a fast
track, and you were off. Laying
back along the rail, you bided your time.
Just as the announcer
said, "Cosmic Dreamer is coming up …"
you went down into the dirt, throwing
the jockey over your head.
Muskoka Irish clambered over
both bodies to finish out of the money.
You raised your head
and shoulders up, once,
then didn’t move again.
The jockey walked to the ambulance.
For you, they brought a closed truck
and large blue tarpaulin.
Two people held the tarp up,
for privacy,
while your owner & trainer said goodbye.
I’m still holding
my bets. At the turn, tractors
idle, waiting to smooth everything over.
Cosmic Dreamer: Aril 27, 2001
by Carolyn Clink
NOTES:
Appeared in the chapbook,
Snapshots
May 2007.
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