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snake

a(nother) inverse poem

By Suze KayPublished 5 months ago Updated 5 months ago 1 min read
Top Story - February 2024
a photo of the author in an arcade, 2017

play it again.

dig up a sticky coin from your endless pocket and

let the arcade-crazed crowd

scream and jostle

your arm against mine as we

move through the tricky handoff of

like to love to lose.

in a liminal zone, where we

allow the flashing lights to set us

on the path to somewhere good,

remember what led us astray

abandon the currency that makes you

slam the side of the machine

when you lose

me

everyone watches

surreal poetryheartbreak

About the Creator

Suze Kay

Pastry chef by day, insomniac writer by night.

Find here: stories that creep up on you, poems to stumble over, and the weird words I hold them in.

Or, let me catch you at www.suzekay.com

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Comments (34)

  • Joe O’Connor4 months ago

    ago The first line is excellent, and I like how there’s a clear surface reading about playing in the arcade, but then deeper hints about the relationship with trying to keep hands together, and the losing of the game (or me) at the end from top to bottom. Nice Suze 👏

  • Anna 4 months ago

    Congrats on Top Story!🥳

  • Hannah Moore4 months ago

    Very well done. And sad, too, in my mind.

  • Novel Allen5 months ago

    Great inverse Suze. Congrats.

  • Hayley Matto5 months ago

    Was a super fun read! Ping pong'd inside my brain just like a game of snack! Congrats on TS!

  • Annaise5 months ago

    Such a sweet read!

  • Gargie S Anand5 months ago

    That's lovely!

  • Rachel Deeming5 months ago

    I read it with the arcade game in mind but it has other meaning too working through it. And this changes when read inversely. Respect to you. I can't do this inverse challenge. It warps my tiny mind.

  • Grz Colm5 months ago

    Excellent and creative inverse poem. Well done! 😊

  • Ashley Lima5 months ago

    Holy cow this is absolutely phenomenal

  • Kendall Defoe 5 months ago

    One of the best depictions of video game culture in those sticky and dark spaces!

  • Sid Aaron Hirji5 months ago

    haha my favorite arcade game besides pinball

  • D.K. Shepard5 months ago

    Great inverse poem! Genius flip!

  • Cathy holmes5 months ago

    Congrats on the TS.

  • Mackenzie Davis5 months ago

    Ohhh. Why are these inverse poems so incredible?? I've read a few now that are soooo deep upon the inverted reading and it's blowing my mind. Yours, here, is no exception to that. How in the world did you do this?! It's amazing! "Play it again" is the BEST first (and last) line. Congrats on TS! You're obliterating this challenge, fr.

  • Kenny Penn5 months ago

    So good Suze! You make this challenge look easy! I haven't been able to think of one yet!

  • JBaz5 months ago

    Very clever and wonderful to read

  • Emmy B5 months ago

    excellent! vivid and captivating :)

  • Deasun T. Smyth5 months ago

    Nice job, well done.

  • Natasha Collazo5 months ago

    YAAAY back to say congrats.

  • Paul Stewart5 months ago

    This is another Kay classic. You have just a sublime way with words, Suze. Loved this. Sad and just the right amount of surrealism to take it to a different level. Oh and congrats on Top Story!

  • sleepy drafts5 months ago

    Absolutely beautifully written ❤️

  • Randy Baker5 months ago

    If I had written my entry on paper, I would wad it up and throw it in the trash now. So many good turns of phrase in this one, but my favorite is "dig up a sticky coin from your endless pocket". Well done!

  • John Cox5 months ago

    Wow! When you lose Me Everyone watches Everyone watches Me When you lose I felt the punch of those lines. Pure magic, Suze!

Suze KayWritten by Suze Kay

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