<p>In his impressive bestiary, <em>The Blind Loon</em>, Ed Shacklee shows as keen an insight into the nature of the beast roaming free as into the beast within. This encyclopedic collection includes the commonplace python, monkey, crocodile, tortoise, camel; the mythical kraken, lamia, chimera, wyvern; the prehistoric ankylosaurus; the fantastical logorrhea, mope, snub, hipster. Shacklee doles out marvels, mischief and hilarity in <em>The Blind Loon, </em>and the breathtaking illustrations of Russ Spitkovsky provide an accompanying visual feast and are by themselves worth the price of admission.</p> <p> </p> <p><b>A Fog of Blurbs</b></p> <p>Their plumage is a sheen of words whose meanings are the same-<br /> inveigling, too often heard, obnoxious birds, but tame, <br /> their mewling call is pecks of praise without one speck of blame.</p> <p>Indifferent if they foul their nests or poop rains on the rabble, <br /> garrulously gathered on the garret eaves of Babel, <br /> they preen as they pontificate on arts in which they dabble, </p> <p>for truth goes out the window when the Blurbs fly into town;<br /> a mist of cloying tidings, thought essential to renown, <br /> their beaks grow long and longer and are uniformly brown.<br /> </p> <p> </p> <p><b>ABOUT THE AUTHOR: </b></p> <p>Ed Shacklee, whose poetry has appeared in the <em>Able Muse, Light, </em> and <em>Rattle</em> among other journals, is a public defender who represents young people. He lives on a boat in the Potomac River. <em>The Blind Loon</em> is his first full-length collection.</p>