{"id":16372,"date":"2024-02-27T14:50:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T14:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/bucephalus-on-a-b-road\/"},"modified":"2024-02-27T14:50:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T14:50:27","slug":"bucephalus-on-a-b-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/bucephalus-on-a-b-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucephalus on a B Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Below is a fine new poem by Jane Burn. But first, an advert! Not for the purposes of making a profit, but in order to promote cultural democracy. Jane is running a series of free – yes, free – creative writing workshops at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead, see here<\/a>. Sign up soon, before they all fill up!<\/em><\/p>\n

Bucephalus on a B Road<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

by Jane Burn<\/em><\/p>\n

Each bone set where it ought to be, every muscle limbered lithe
upon them, set just right. My hocks are good \u2013 uncowed, uncapped,<\/p>\n

my cannons free of splints. I was born beneath a star, shaped
upon my hard and handsome brow. The driver has trusted their life<\/p>\n

to the reins \u2013 the slender veins passed from hand to mouth. I feel
every one of their thoughts \u2013 the word that speaks loudest along<\/p>\n

these leather lines is fast. I do not feel the harness, fine as thread,
nor the sulky strung behind \u2013 nothing but seat and two spindle wheels<\/p>\n

hold them safe from the blur beneath. My toes spark a constellation
from the tarmac, scar its throat with moons. There is lightning<\/p>\n

on the glass of my skin, sun on the lick of my mane. I carry the driver
past the faces that peer from their tame cars like stunned moons \u2013<\/p>\n

I ask them, did you ever fly like we fly, far above this dull and blunted world?
I will stop when my lungs can own no more breath, for I was built<\/p>\n

to be a running thing. The driver clings on, squinting flick-knife air.
They will not forget how I bore them into myth. We will break<\/p>\n

the horizon with the brilliance of our speed.<\/p>\n

\"Bucephalus\"<\/p>\n

Bucephalus was Alexander the Great’s horse and is considered by some to be the most famous horse in history. Commons image: Ruthven\/Wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is a fine new poem by Jane Burn. But first, an advert! Not for the purposes of making a profit, but in order to promote cultural…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":16370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}