Stack the Deck

Rainy days, drunken nights, sleight of hand, ripple and snap.

I promise not to look too hard at the chili oil smudges memorized

over diamond backs, a folded edge on the four of spades,

your careless splay as you lean to shift my drink from the table's edge.

//

House rules and home brews, penny hands and the long list of

unpaid debts that stretches like a CVS receipt over our history.

May we play forever, may we never tire of the game,

may we never be caught evening the odds.

//

The cards are tacky, smell of mildew. Everything here does, if it waits

long enough on a shelf, plucked up and shuffled

only once in a blue moon. Oh, reliever of boredom, starter

of fights, be lucky for me tonight.