The shopping-cart wrangler stands leaning
on his trusted blue-hided steed looking
across the aisles...miles of aisles for
his errant stead, aimless and wandering,
shiny and gaunt, slowly grazing the lot.

He's traded his cowboy hat for a hoodie
and his boots for some black high-tops.
Still the winter winds bite as they fly
across the blacktop lines and scatter
his herd about the white-lined plains.

He'll go out again, rounding them up,
getting them in line, head to tail,
and silently push the ruck with his electric
pony back to their corral and into
the shopping-cart barn for eager buyers.

© agoodguy2have 2011-02-19