Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2023  Vol. 21  No.3
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an online journal of literature and the arts
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back IBE LIEBENBERG

don’t bring your 6-year-old daughter to a wild horse auction, just bring
a horse home

she will trace the shapes of scars
ask where each one came from
why are they called wild?
she will try to release each one
only after naming them thunder
cloud
and the one called poorly drawn stars
is the one she chooses

then asks about freeze marks
the burn to remove freedom

she will tame our gaze on raised skin
and the brand flinching

discipline refusing body
the wild not giving in  


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