Ears up, girls, ears up!
This short sentence, covering half of line 6, is easy to miss but significant as the only time the speaker addresses the lady horses directly. At first glance, it has the playful tone of a rider fondly encouraging their horses. The word "girls" can be read as affectionate and informal, and the exclamation point (rare in Limón's poems) adds a conversational exuberance to the line. But the line also works as a call to action, a call to both the horses and female readers ("girls") to pay attention. When a horse's ears are up, it means they are alert: if the ears are facing backwards, the horse is listening to her rider; if up and forwards, the horse is alert and paying attention to what's ahead. The speaker interjects this line to show her familiarity and affection with the lady horses, and moreover to summon the reader's attention to this state of alertness and readiness. She wants the audience, especially women and girls reading her poem, to be ready to win.
Don't you want to lift my shirt and see
the huge beating genius machine
This is the first half of the poem's final sentence, which covers its last four lines. They hold a few surprises: first, the sexual innuendo of line 15. "Don't you want to lift my shirt" reads at first like a seduction, which isn't too far from the conspiratorial tone the speaker has already established with the reader through phrases like "let's be honest" (line 7) and "Don't you want to believe it?" just before these lines. The line break at "and see" also creates a moment of teasing suspense—see what?! But the invitation, while coy, turns out not to be submissive as we might expect from stereotypical femininity. The speaker has been lauding the horses for their embodiment of all that is usually unfeminine: strength, size, brute power, and arrogance. These lines once again subvert the "feminine" by turning the innuendo of line 15 on its head with the following line's "huge beating genius machine."
"Huge" and "beating" echo "giant" and "pumps" from earlier, but the phrase "genius machine" is strikingly new. We would associate "genius" with intellectual prowess, not the physical feats described so far, and "machine" would seem to run contrary to the organic, natural imagery of horse hearts. With these words, the speaker expands the poem's feminist assertions beyond the realm of animal physicality into rationality and industry, two arenas often seen as more masculine (whereas sentimentality and nature might be seen as feminine). She collapses the organic and mechanical, the physical and the mental together, becoming an avatar of complete and well-rounded power. The previous line's brief sensuality is interrupted by an intimidating, almost confusing image of power. If this is a seduction, it is more like the deadly allure of a Greek mythological siren or Medusa, more "dangerous animal" (line 9) than docile maiden.
Moreover, there is no reason to believe that "you" is directed at a male audience, making the undressing image even more intriguing. In line 6 the speaker has addressed "girls"—referring mainly to the horses, yes, but perhaps to female readers as well. And, the poem's title reads like an instruction for those seeking to win "like a girl." The poem's stark absence of any masculine presence confirms that the seductive implications of these lines are not submissive or intended as a flirtation with any male figure. They are a rallying cry for women to marvel together at their own (and each other's) innate power.
