{"id":14909,"date":"2023-09-13T20:17:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T18:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=14909"},"modified":"2025-10-12T16:51:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:51:48","slug":"poems-by-aidan-stickles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=14909","title":{"rendered":"poems by Aidan Stickles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cat\u2019s Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I spend my time in a tavern<\/p>\n

named the Lemon Melon,<\/p>\n

overlooks Sunset Inlet,<\/p>\n

sits next to Craven\u2019s Caverns.<\/p>\n

A beloved troupe is passing through<\/p>\n

dubbed the Cat\u2019s Act.<\/p>\n

I was eighteen when I first saw the spectacle<\/p>\n

now I\u2019m nineteen, and a real expert after I won<\/p>\n

the act\u2019s Cats.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How’s the show?<\/p>\n

Some downers may wonder.<\/p>\n

One must watch to know<\/p>\n

or hear me talk more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They dance the wolf flow,<\/p>\n

display art with tar overlay<\/p>\n

then put on a play<\/p>\n

they called the real fun funeral.<\/p>\n

They love to say<\/p>\n

Nag a Ram!<\/p>\n

After counting lambs.<\/p>\n

When they recite the story<\/p>\n

Of the Night Thing<\/p>\n

even the Cider cried.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet everyone mopes and moans<\/p>\n

when they recite their poems<\/p>\n

don\u2019t take note of the tones.<\/p>\n

The crowd inevitably drifts off<\/p>\n

to sleep during the one about fritd\u2019s peels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the crowd awoke from their drunken stupor at dawn<\/p>\n

the Cat\u2019s scat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like they were never there<\/p>\n

just listen, It\u2019s silent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Lug Bugs<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A bug<\/p>\n

the size of a lug<\/p>\n

nut strutted:<\/p>\n

head butting every<\/p>\n

red-muttering<\/p>\n

said-stuttering<\/p>\n

lady beetle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Soon all lice and mites<\/p>\n

and cluster flies<\/p>\n

spied the pie<\/p>\n

on the window side:<\/p>\n

The Lugs slugged any bug that came too close. So,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remi and Demi protested<\/p>\n

in the Garden Square but<\/p>\n

they were bested by ants<\/p>\n

that pranced over their exo-<\/p>\n

skeletons which turned them into<\/p>\n

gelatin. Then<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

when the rest of the hungry<\/p>\n

bugs organized<\/p>\n

they lost their lives<\/p>\n

to the hives<\/p>\n

of hornets<\/p>\n

and wasps;<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stingers\u2014the bringers of<\/p>\n

order and patrollers<\/p>\n

of the border\u2014are allowed<\/p>\n

great quantities of grape-flavored<\/p>\n

pleasers from the freezer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the Capital under<\/p>\n

the steps; the Representatives of<\/p>\n

Red Caterpillars,<\/p>\n

and the Council of Crickets and<\/p>\n

the Board of Butterflies<\/p>\n

appealed to the Congress of<\/p>\n

Cockroaches and the<\/p>\n

President of Praying-Mantises:<\/p>\n

no one<\/p>\n

could get<\/p>\n

a word<\/p>\n

in over the<\/p>\n

Senate of<\/p>\n

Cicadas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally!The Directorate<\/p>\n

of Dragonflies asked why?anyone needed pie,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

and the meeting adjourned<\/p>\n

before morning!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Train of Thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Crazy. Punctuation anD<\/p>\n

indentation, however.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nothing is so disjointed as the train of thought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Must<\/p>\n

derail to arrive at the station.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you ever thought<\/p>\n

sidewalks and clouds are similar in<\/p>\n

that they can both be<\/p>\n

seen ? And<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

loud noises are like bright colors<\/p>\n

because they both<\/p>\n

corroded the railway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pendulum Swings<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The pendulum swings, sways<\/p>\n

back and forth,<\/p>\n

ticking tocking<\/p>\n

clocking days<\/p>\n

pass before hours,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

hours pass before minutes,<\/p>\n

and the pendulum sways<\/p>\n

forth and back,<\/p>\n

never stays<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in one spot for a second<\/p>\n

longer than it must,<\/p>\n

and the hands move<\/p>\n

over the face with gust-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

o\u2019mocking those who<\/p>\n

dared ask the pendulum to henceforth<\/p>\n

cease its oscillating<\/p>\n

motion and measure the worth<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

of immobility,<\/p>\n

of stillness,<\/p>\n

of quiet and understandable willingness<\/p>\n

to remember that the back and forth, and back again<\/p>\n

of the pendulum must someday halt<\/p>\n

(Then swallow a pill filled with salt)<\/p>\n

Surely, that would kill time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doors<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sitting outside an unlocked door<\/p>\n

on porch steps afraid to knock<\/p>\n

(no one will answer).<\/p>\n

The entryway seems miles away<\/p>\n

(but it\u2019s only a couple of feet).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stamped a foot for inaction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve jumped through flaming hoops,<\/p>\n

hopped over angry cobras,<\/p>\n

and stooped to the lion’s maw<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

but stolling up to someone\u2019s<\/p>\n

threshold is a feat I\u2019ve yet to<\/p>\n

meet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I believe the homeowners will accept a<\/p>\n

bad house guest or, slam<\/p>\n

their mahogany portal in my face.<\/p>\n

(Both situations are<\/p>\n

statistically likely).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So instead, I look to the east and<\/p>\n

west of me and see no solitude,<\/p>\n

hundreds<\/p>\n

(and perhaps millions)<\/p>\n

of others sit on porch steps<\/p>\n

unwilling to knock on<\/p>\n

unlocked doors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And we hear hundreds<\/p>\n

(if not billions)<\/p>\n

of people behind the plaster<\/p>\n

and stone alone, too<\/p>\n

afraid<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(of inviting<\/p>\n

someone in)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cat\u2019s Act   I spend my time in a tavern named the Lemon Melon, overlooks Sunset Inlet,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1653,77],"tags":[1666,1654,1123],"class_list":["post-14909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-77","category-english","tag-aidan-stickles","tag-egophobia-77","tag-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-3St","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14910,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909\/revisions\/14910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}