Sliding

SLIDING i slid shy through childhood hardly speaking in kindergarten building blocks painting sipping milk eating graham crackers was there nothing else? first grade found me a best friend chasing each other around penguins bowing knees, praying at some point i hide behind awful glasses now i can see too far the crush two years older passes the classroom door and i slide under the desk in sixth, they announce our names me and my brother we slide to the next city and to another Catholic school one more year before we beg our parents to leave the parochial border a little naughty in eighth as i skate and skip one class just a dip, merely a dent it was my favorite year loved my history teacher first time i fell in love not with the man with the subject and i made the honor roll let me say when i returned to high school one year later I didn’t miss it didn’t miss the clamor the steep wind that moves through the halls i enjoyed my freedom to test the waters then took a sail as a sailor finding me a man of valor, as we both slid through torrential waters endured the sanding of our souls polishing the shy beauty and the beast our wrinkles secure anchored down wisdom entrenched slippery sliding on the deck getting wet raining tears laughing i don’t need a coat umbrella or hat i let happiness slide in 11/29/2018