Ed Shacklee
Sheep Is the Past Tense of Wolf
Their teeth are white, their lies are white, their laughs are bluff and hearty.
The halest fellows ever met, the life of every party,
they're well endowed, their ties are loud, their tailored pants are smarty;
yet dregs can lurk in any drink - as golden locks start graying
and growing scarce as golden eggs they'd thought their goose was laying,
the chickens loosed in youth come home to roost and want repaying,
for there's more blue than yonder. When the bulls are cowed by steering
and pigs begin to ponder why the aproned men are nearing,
smarter sheep may wonder why we stand in line for shearing.
Bio
Ed Shacklee is a public defender who represents young people in the District of Columbia. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Angle, Innisfree Poetry Journal, Light, Per Contra and The Raintown Review, among other places. He is working on a bestiary.