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Horse in the Dark: Poems
In the next chapter of the Cave Canem/Northwestern University Poetry Prize, we enter the poetic world of Vievee Francis. Bold and skilled, Francis takes us into the still landscapes of Texas and the fluid details of the African American South. Her poems become panhandle folktales revealing the weight of memories so clear and on the cusp. Her creative tangle of metaphors, people and geography will keep the reader rooted in a good earth of extraordinary verse.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2011
About the author
Vievee Francis
14 books42 followersVievee Francis is author of Horse in the Dark (2012), winner of the Cave Canem Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry 2010 and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry. She was the recipient of the 2009 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and the 2010 Kresge Artist Fellowship. A Cave Canem Fellow, she is currently an associate editor for Callaloo.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 19, 2017
Poems Of Rural Texas
My local library carries recent African American literature that otherwise would be difficult to find including this book of poetry by Vievee Francis, "Horse in the Dark", which received the 2010 Cave Camen Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize. This prize, offered every other year, is awarded to second books by African American poets. Francis currently lives in the Detroit area but grew up in rural Texas. Francis published an earlier book of poetry, "Blue Tail Fly" in 2006. She is coming to the publication of books of poetry in middle age.
"Horse in the Dark" is largely autobiographical and recounts Francis' childhood years in Texas. The family moved a great deal, from west to east Texas, but always in isolated rural areas. Her book has the feel of dirt, grit, animals, heat, and toughness. Some of the poems are written in traditional styles, others are brief prose poems while others are modernist. Francis makes frequent reference to classical mythology, especially to Ovid and myths involving human-animal transformation.
Francis writes about west Texas with its lack of trees and oppressive sun. Woods and loblolly pine predominate in the poems about east Texas. Francis describes her family, including father, mother, and grandmother. A poem titled "Still Life with another Grandfather, Masons, and a Pie Tin under the Bed" is one of several that describes the poet's aging grandmother. In this poem, Francis describes her second marriage, to a man ten years her senior. When he died, "He left everything to his children. He left her nothing but alone."
Francis describes rural schools in which she frequently was the only African American child. The poems also describe the strong undercurrent of race prejudice she felt in the early 1970's,
Most of the poems involve Francis' reflections on places, land and especially animals. The picture of the land is barren and unsentimental, as an aptly titled poem, "Anti-Pastoral" where she writes: "I hate this measure/ of memory, the constant return to the creek, the field,/the sundering South. I want release from the pasture/ of my youth, from its cows and cobs in the mouth."
The animal poems feature creatures such as the "Bull Snake", hogs and pigs, anteaters, and sea horses, but the most common figure is of a horse. The author reflects on her own human nature and on how it emerged from animality. Horse and human are frequently melded together in the poems, as in the title poem, "Horse in the Dark" and it is sometimes difficult to tell the species apart. The final visionary poem in the collection "Pegasus" is about the mythical creature: "the horse is the rider" who "runs toward who knows where,/forgets itself,/flies on its legs."
In a sonnet titled "On the Way to Round Rock -- 2003" Francis aptly describes in a way that brought back memories the environs of a Texas city that I have visited several times and come to know. It is the poem in the collection to which I could best respond from my own experience. The poem begins:
"An ice machine rusts in the middle of a field.
A bull skull. A dog too old, too weary to run.
The boy on the tractor watches butterflies float
toward the half-dead trees along CR 122."
"Horse in the Dark" is a small, off-the beaten path rough collection that I was fortunate to find and read. The theme is unusual and many of the poems succeed. The book will interest adventurous readers of modern American poetry.
Robin Friedman
My local library carries recent African American literature that otherwise would be difficult to find including this book of poetry by Vievee Francis, "Horse in the Dark", which received the 2010 Cave Camen Northwestern University Press Poetry Prize. This prize, offered every other year, is awarded to second books by African American poets. Francis currently lives in the Detroit area but grew up in rural Texas. Francis published an earlier book of poetry, "Blue Tail Fly" in 2006. She is coming to the publication of books of poetry in middle age.
"Horse in the Dark" is largely autobiographical and recounts Francis' childhood years in Texas. The family moved a great deal, from west to east Texas, but always in isolated rural areas. Her book has the feel of dirt, grit, animals, heat, and toughness. Some of the poems are written in traditional styles, others are brief prose poems while others are modernist. Francis makes frequent reference to classical mythology, especially to Ovid and myths involving human-animal transformation.
Francis writes about west Texas with its lack of trees and oppressive sun. Woods and loblolly pine predominate in the poems about east Texas. Francis describes her family, including father, mother, and grandmother. A poem titled "Still Life with another Grandfather, Masons, and a Pie Tin under the Bed" is one of several that describes the poet's aging grandmother. In this poem, Francis describes her second marriage, to a man ten years her senior. When he died, "He left everything to his children. He left her nothing but alone."
Francis describes rural schools in which she frequently was the only African American child. The poems also describe the strong undercurrent of race prejudice she felt in the early 1970's,
Most of the poems involve Francis' reflections on places, land and especially animals. The picture of the land is barren and unsentimental, as an aptly titled poem, "Anti-Pastoral" where she writes: "I hate this measure/ of memory, the constant return to the creek, the field,/the sundering South. I want release from the pasture/ of my youth, from its cows and cobs in the mouth."
The animal poems feature creatures such as the "Bull Snake", hogs and pigs, anteaters, and sea horses, but the most common figure is of a horse. The author reflects on her own human nature and on how it emerged from animality. Horse and human are frequently melded together in the poems, as in the title poem, "Horse in the Dark" and it is sometimes difficult to tell the species apart. The final visionary poem in the collection "Pegasus" is about the mythical creature: "the horse is the rider" who "runs toward who knows where,/forgets itself,/flies on its legs."
In a sonnet titled "On the Way to Round Rock -- 2003" Francis aptly describes in a way that brought back memories the environs of a Texas city that I have visited several times and come to know. It is the poem in the collection to which I could best respond from my own experience. The poem begins:
"An ice machine rusts in the middle of a field.
A bull skull. A dog too old, too weary to run.
The boy on the tractor watches butterflies float
toward the half-dead trees along CR 122."
"Horse in the Dark" is a small, off-the beaten path rough collection that I was fortunate to find and read. The theme is unusual and many of the poems succeed. The book will interest adventurous readers of modern American poetry.
Robin Friedman
June 20, 2024
This book was gifted to me by one of the greatest people to ever exist and I will always remember her kindness and dedication to her students
May 11, 2013
I recently read the book because I took a workshop with Vievee along with writing an article about her. Thirdly, I knew I needed to read more poetry so what better place to start? The entire book is very strong. Most of the poems reflect on entropy, memory, family, and childhood. Common images and actions are blades, cutting, stabbing, cooking, knives, burning, skin, and food. There are many tropes around hard and soft, protection, vulnerability, and transformation. Of course, these are not the only ones - they are just the ones that spoke most clearly to me. It's hard to write about this book since I have a personal relationship with the author. What I can say is that she generally writes from a dark and challenging ethos. Yet, she has a couple of very humorous poems, too - most notably the one about guns. She wrote these poems from Detroit so I am looking forward to how her writing changes after a move to the mountains of North Carolina. The new work shows less control of the line and what she calls "more white space." In general: more play. This is far from a fair review of this book but I hope it suffices. Several poems from it have been anthologized in Norton's Angles of Ascent. Vievee is an incredibly passionate poet who is 200% dedicated to her field. Please BUY this book. You will be glad you did.
June 24, 2020
Francis’s second collection demonstrates the voice of a practiced poetic voice. The wisdom here is controlled and understated, with equal measures of beauty and awe. This wisdom manages to resist stiffness and instead conversationally gallops. The tropes throughout expand upon dichotomies and our tendencies to assign one goodness and the other its opposite. That is to say, darkness and light may be equals though one is more feared. This will be a collection I return to.
November 18, 2024
Honestly this book of poems is so fire. The images of rural Texas that Vievee Francis creates are so vivid and compelling. Her poems are mesmerizing, lyrical, and amazing to read out loud. I also love the motifs that occur throughout Horse in the Dark. The book really feels cohesive as a collection. My favorites are "Devotion Like This," "On the Way to Round Rock," and "Say It, Say It Any Way You Can," which you can read here: https://www.rattle.com/say-it-say-it-...
-Averett
-Averett
February 13, 2024
To return to a place where no one will expect you - and many will not tilt their chin to remember. This is the Texas that keeps Vievee cycling and circling on the page. We see it from all vantage points - peak through the windows but don’t dare step through its open doors. Vievee Francis is a master transformer, the first section she flaunts her literary skill, teaching us that we too can pay attention so keenly we can watch all that we know, morph.
March 28, 2021
This book like the other two of her works that I have read is very powerful. I also recently took a workshop with her through the Palm Beach Poetry Festival—she is also an outstanding teacher and workshop leader as well. I love how Vievee pulls us into the past, hers and others.
February 11, 2023
I enjoyed these poems. There are threads that move through this collection: her father, horses, rules, time and more….I liked the way it moved and spoke to violence and truth and beauty. It really caught me up in its web.
March 10, 2022
Beautifully evocative images capture the ear and eye and heart. With lyrical precision Vievee Francis brings us fully into her world.
July 10, 2025
brilliant, beautiful, mesmerizing. made me see and made me feel seen
December 6, 2016
Vievee Francis is one of the best poets writing today.
January 2, 2017
Some of these I absolutely loved, but the rest I'll forget completely. The voice is strong and clear, but not one I would personally seek out again.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews