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Coin Snake
A host of sparrows in shrill protest
above my neighbor’s Yucca
hours before their evening roost
lassos my jerked attention
There spiraling in peristaltic stealth
upwards between its dagger-like spikes
a patterned sleuth intruding skywards
Until its length and tongueforked head
emerges with no further tiers to climb
and I transfixed in frozen stare
Watch its flicker observe the sparrows
who dash and scream a dive-bomb shower
of avian attack, their vocal machine guns
Strafing streams of chattering curses
until reluctantly it seems to withdraw
into its intestinal vine and disappears
Somewhere between the shadows and the spines
and I disappointed somehow
retreat to page and pen
© Johnmichael Simon
2009
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