Policeman on a White Horse

Can you see him? The man on the horse.
I can’t. I see through him. A white man
On a horse
In a field
Of whiteness. In my country he’d be blue
This white man
On a horse
In a field of whiteness.
He’d look down from his horse
At the few shades of brown
In a field of whiteness
What would be in his eyes?
Would he see the brown
Breaking up the field of whiteness
As a splash of color
Or stains 
In a field of whiteness.
What would this white man
On a horse
See in his field of whiteness?
Because in my country 
This white man 
In blue
Would see the field as his
He may not own the field
Nay,
Probably could not own the field,
Not with his salary,
But he’d think he owned it anyway
And this white man
On a horse
In a field of whiteness
Would look upon the brown 
On his field
And he’d see
With eyes cold
Like ICE
From his horse
In a field
Of whiteness
Something different than I.

This is for a dVerse prompt: For today’s Poetics prompt, I’d like you to choose one of the paintings featured in this post and base your poem on it. I chose Police Man on a White Horse in the Fields, the picture above, to do my ekphrastic poem on. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. In this poem my country is the US not Canada as I was born in the US and chose to claim either one as I feel. 😁

Published by authorstew

C. Stuart Lewis creates poems with feeling, intelligence and sex appeal. His short stories and books focus on characters that feel real in real world situations. Originally from the United States he now resides in Ontario, Canada. Check out his webpage at TheAuthorStew.ca View more posts

6 thoughts on “Policeman on a White Horse”

intriguing your reaction to the painting… not much has changed throughout time…. your poems structure gave power to your poem… building as each line exposed your thoughts bringing it into the present… i am so curious about the color of our skin and how it is represented through the eyes of our individual color and our experiences… as a young girl i didn’t know i was brown until i saw/felt people’s reaction and the way they treated me…. not much as changed….

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The more things change….

An unsettling write for an unsettling picture. Nicely done Stew 👏

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Stew I love this interpretation- your minimalist structure delivers a heavy critique of power, racial dynamics, and the ‘gaze’ of authority – how authority figures ‘own’ spaces through their own gaze🙌

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