I know people who know horses
They ride them and own them
and talk about their different points.
They look at a horse in a field or paddock,
and evaluate it, speak of its attributes.
In all the Westerns I read growing up,
there were always characters who knew
“horse flesh.” I don’t. I know nothing.
All horses are beautiful to me.

A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joseph Mills has published eight volumes of poetry, most recently Bodies in Motion: Poems about Dance. His book This Miraculous Turning was awarded the North Carolina Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry for its exploration of race and family..