John Turner

SHARK IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

When I was much younger
I ran into a shark in sheep’s clothing
I should have caught the subtle differences:
The salt water dripping from the wool
the dorsal fin
the flat, lidless eyes
and the frenzied attack on the grass
with 3,297 serrated triangular teeth
but I missed all that.
It took off most of the best part of my arm.

You see what I’ve done since
and claim I should be glad;
"Wow!  I’ve never seen anyone
with a trophy ram’s head on the wall
with 3,297 serrated triangular teeth
and a dorsal fin before!"
Maybe so --
but then
you’ve never tried
flipping pancakes
with a hook.

Date of Birth: August 7, 1952 Location: Davenport, Iowa Day Job: Instructor of English at Scott Community College Email: ScoperJohn@aol.com Publications: Short Stuff, Samsara Quarterly, Astronomy, Lyrical Iowa, Squashblossom, Black&White, The Poet, Stirring V2:E3, etc. Awards: James Hearst Poetry Award; first on-line Slammaster for Simon&Shuster and Warner Brothers; judge of Third Fusion Poetry Competiton Other: Written/Starred in 17 plays in last 12 years in Quad City area

- October 2002 - Conjugating Anatomies After the Flood Instruction Hey You Kids, Get That Dirty Bomb Off My Lawn! Oven-sun Bus Stop breasts Bread and Tulips A Son Born To A Family of Women variation on pollock's cathedral Leonardo’s Notebooks - Poetry by Current & Former Editors - Charming Jenna Sept. 10th the things we do for Kings must end sometime Song Leftovers I'm learning to love haiku Valet Parking at the Salvation Army Shark in Sheep’s Clothing - Stirring's Best From Year Three - Killing Cattle for Disease, Greeley, 1998 Dear Anna Body Parts for Art Hogs Loosed En Route to Slaughter Trying to Raise the Dead Groundhog Day