HTML giant has a great post on contemporary "moves" in poetry -- which could also be called tics, cliches, or styles. I'm going to try them all out! I'm doing the negative one (not and not and not) right now!

Here's the draft:

Not the Blue One


Not the horse entire, not the gripped
withers. Not the ring of shod hooves down
the driveway. Not the girth loosening, not
the bit hanging to one side. Not the old-man-
colored jodpurs stretched so tight we worried

our whole cunt would leak through, not
the grapefruit-smelling leather boots that numbed
our toes. Not the toothbrush on the harness,
the stirrups. Not twisting the mane in our fist
as we hurl over the second hurdle. Not the dash
of a hoof in the water trap, not the stumbling

to knees in the water. Not the swerving from
traffic cones in the middle of a decaying field,
not the trip/somersault, the tail flying up and over
like a fan dance, not the falls-over, the flips-
through, making the whole fair "ooh" like a low
prayer and then silence. Not the dust tracks
on the black velvet cap.

This missing whip. This tip
of a broken tooth. This red ribbon
clipped next to his eye, until
he shies up onto the stands.
This you, dragging your ragged
bridle afterwards.