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Two Horses and a Dog Author(s): James Galvin Source: The Iowa Review, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter, 1994), pp. 129-130 Published by: University of Iowa Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20153506 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 19:52 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Iowa Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.108.60 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:52:30 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Two Horses and a Dog

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Page 1: Two Horses and a Dog

Two Horses and a DogAuthor(s): James GalvinSource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Winter, 1994), pp. 129-130Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20153506 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 19:52

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Iowa Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.60 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:52:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Two Horses and a Dog

Only up was gone. Up was away.

Earth still spun As it stalled and drifted darkward, Sublime,

An aspirin in a glass of water.

Two Horses and a Dog

Without external reference,

The world presents itself

In perfect clarity.

Wherewithal!, arrested moments,

The throes of d?mystification,

Morality as nothing more

Than humility and honesty, a salty measure.

Then it was a cold snap,

Weather turned lethal so it was easier

To feel affinity With lodgepole stands, rifted aspens, And grim, tenacious sage.

History accelerates till it misses the turns.

Wars are shorter now

Just to fit into it.

One day you know you are no longer young Because you've stopped loving your own despe You change life to loneliness in your mind

And, you know, you need to change it back.

Statistics show that

One in every five

Women

Is essential to my survival.

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Page 3: Two Horses and a Dog

My daughter asks how wide is lightning. That depends, but I don't know on what.

Probably the dimension of inner hugeness, As in a speck of dirt.

It was an honor to suffer humiliation and refusal.

Shame was an honor.

It was an honor to freeze your ass on horseback

In the year's first blizzard,

Looking for strays that never materialized.

It was an honor to break apart against this,

An honor to fail at well-being As the high peaks accepted the first snow?

A sigh of relief.

Time stands still

And we and things go whizzing past it,

Queasy and lonely,

Wearing dogtags with scripture on them.

More Like It

1. It's white ashes

That drift and mizzle,

Muffle and sift like snow.

Feather-ash, not snow.

Sure sign Heaven

Has burned to the ground again.

The pines

(Ah, Unanimous!)

Elect a new God.

130

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