Tarlton Law Library
Jamail Center for Legal Research

Shoulders

The slope of a shoulder
says loads about a man

what he's been lugging around
and for how long

whether he's strong enough
to lift one more sack of sand

and smart enough
to leave it as it falls

when a seam splits
spilling the truth for his effort.

 The boss might call him in
to have a chat

to see if what he saw
will have its way with him

if he's walking off the job
or if he's going to talk.

No matter his response
it's the shoulders give away the fact

he's had enough of this--
you can dock him if you want--

the shoulders and the back
and the hands jammed down his pockets.

Palace of Justice

Learned in the law
he labeled each event
of those days
in accordance with tradition.
The legislative will
thus informed his speech
the crunch of leather in the halls
his conscience.
Dismissing rumors of rooms
below chambers
slippery with blood
he rose from the bench
each afternoon at four
drenched in his robes
never once having looked into
the eyes
of those he condemned.
On his way out
the magnificent doors
women lined in the streets
hailed him
the last hope
for loved ones missing these months
taken in the night
and no word yet.

John Perrault is a New Hampshire teacher, folk singer, lawyer, and Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Perrault was raised in Maine and graduated from Providence College in 1965. He received his Masters degree in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire. He taught school for 10 years, then obtained his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center. With John Ahlgren, he formed the law partnership of Ahlgren & Perrault in 1982. Perrault has appeared in concerts throughout New England singing his ballads. His poetry has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal, Key West Review, and Poet Lore. His first book, The Ballad of Louis Wagner and other New England Stories in Verse (10 ballads, 5 songs and 15 poems-includes a CD) was published by Peter E. Randall Publisher in 2003.
"Shoulders" was first published in Red River Review (August 2002). "Palace of Justice" originally appeared in Commonweal.