Teenage boys meandering through the forest.
Jakes are adolescent male Wild Turkeys.
They appear early in the morning mist,
Always in groups;
the hens are spoken for.
The Jakes are left to wander,
to practice being Toms.
They puff up for each other,
strutting around, stumbling a bit.
They are the future, these
remarkable iridescent birds.
Just as our boys are,
practicing to live in a very complicated world.
