Pastoral

Let us not overlook, he says looking out over

us from the lectern like a shepherd

with a crook of words bent on folding

us back into our pen, or penning

us back to our fold, the stupidity

and defenselessness of sheep.

We bleat: in this analogy, who

are we? He proceeds. Goats, you

see, can handle themselves. Horns

and hoofs, cranial helmets they ram

full tilt into posts, or other goats. But sheep

mind you, sheep have no homing device,

which is why stories begin with a lost one;

they’re even known to head toward danger

—oh look, a wolf! Let’s check it out!— in dumb

allegiance to the interesting, which I find

interesting, and think: how to amend

our sheepish ways? But he, to drive

home both the point and oh ye,

sighs it’s beyond you; beyond me.

~Mischa Willett