Hoofprints: Horse Poems

Jessie Haas charts equine evolution in Hoofprints: Horse Poems. The more than 100 poems begin in prehistory, contemplating the lives of the biological ancestors of the horse, then move through the roles and influence of horses during Roman times, in battle, in 19th-century urban life and into the present day. In the poem ""Two Legs,"" Haas offers a horse's-eye-view indictment of early man: ""Sleek like an antelope,/ Shaggy like a bear./ Smell like a meat-eater./ Slow. Slow./ He can't/ Do much/ Harm."" (Mar.)