Category Archives: poems & short jabs

Loneliness Comes to the High Roller

Loneliness comes
into play
like the
Queen of
Spades in a
deck with
no Aces.

You shuffle
past the
point where
you should
have been
dealing &
then you’re
out of
the casino
doing card
tricks on
the corner.

Gone now
the tall
stack of
blue chips
& the
poker face.

You’re reduced
to making
pigeons fly
out of
your hat
& flowers
grow out of
your ears.

You smile,
exposing the
gray teeth
of a
tight-lipped
high roller.

You accept
token offerings
that are
not much
more than
charity.

You swallow
your pride.

It doesn’t
happen suddenly,
this reversal
of fortune,
but it
feels that way.

You’re up
against an
opponent who’ll
go all
in without
blinking.