Short Sidles Poems

   The snake sidles up to Eve
     from God she soon seeks reprieve

   With us yet, it slithers into Halls of Power
     injects venom ~ brave leaders cower
...

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The opposite of love is not hate
It is fear of change, difference, or mood
It sidles with a serpentine gait
Hiding, gathering ammo like it’s food..

January 6, 2019

"Fear is a slinking cat I find beneath the lilacs of my mind."
-Sophie Tunnell...

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A gray and white cat sidles up 
	against the splotchy green dumpster
and meows despite himself.

The plastic lid slams hard at the end
of another long shift. It sounds desperately final
like the North Springs station, or the highest note

of a violin....

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faces as old and wrinkled as their clothing
a metered gait adjusted to combined needs
gnarled hands held, as always, in support
the sun welcomes their warm-faced smiles

sounds of children in the distance amuse them
an old dog sidles up in search of a pat
the old park bench waits patiently
there is no hurry – their time - is now
...

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The boy sidles to the wall
Slides to the ground
Buries his head under his folded arms
Why are they doing this to him?
The laughter gets louder and louder.
He is now in the fetal position.
What is happening? Asks his mother.
The therapist has no idea.
He does not speak.
He is in a world of his own
Where everyone is laughing
At him...

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Squinting into time
I grasp a distant folly
Slow dancing alone


It stares back at me
Shimmering in icy lust
This trembling pencil


It sidles closer
A touch of maple abides
Pancakes come to mind


The gauntlet is thrown
A motionless hawk falters
Its feathers ruffled


Adrift in the trees
The echo of lost moments
A dove high cooing...

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the insistent dragons are back
I watch them fly over Gibraltar hill.
Outside petunias are crowding toward the house
There is a castle waiting for me in the distance

I move closer to the lace curtains.
Wanting to get a better look at my destiny.
Find myself staring at the woman I will be one day.
She gives me a resigned look.

Teddy bear sidles closer, and I cuddle him.
My school work can wait.
The dragons have a message.
I strain to hear, to understand, to be the real me....

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