Jonathan Fletcher

FIELD TRIP TO A RANCH

I remember the hooves
the most, the sound of dull steel
to dirt. I remember the prints
their horseshoes left,
the shapes of “U” in native ground.
I remember the black mane
of my horse, the dark
figure we cast on earth.
I remember the reins
in my brown hands, grip loose
yet close, cool in touch.
I remember my ease
in the leather saddle, the steadiness
of our short ride. I remember
how the trainer praised
us, the surprise on my bullies’ faces.
And I briefly forget
the conquistadors’ shadows—tall
and frenetic, centaur
in shape. And their lighter eyes,
wide and fixed
on colored sand, my ancestors’ skin.
Then I remember
the manacles, the reddened wrists and ankles.
And the metal bit
inside my horse’s mouth,
the bridle firm
around its dark head.

Jonathan Fletcher holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Columbia University School of the Arts. His work has been featured in numerous literary journals and magazines, and he has won or placed in various literary contests. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, he won Northwestern University Press’s Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize contest in 2023, for which he will have his debut chapbook, This is My Body, published in 2025. Currently, he serves as a Zoeglossia Fellow and lives in San Antonio, Texas.