The Satyr
Priapism: (noun) a delusive state in which men make mountains out of molehills
He never sought out fame, but notoriety—
seduction, revelry, and insobriety,
a golden age for fools in Rome and Greece,
priapic wars against domestic peace.
It’s said they got his goat, and Pan is dead,
but five will get you ten he’s safe in bed
where man and goat and god are all the same,
though men give either gods or goats the blame.
Ed Shacklee is a public defender who represents young people in the District of Columbia. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Crannóg, Kin Poetry Journal, and Rattle, among other places. He is working on a bestiary.