‘i win’ he says
‘i know the game’
and
sometimes
she believes
‘i know the game’
and
sometimes
she believes
a professional poker player
is not a contradiction
because
is not a contradiction
because
he says
‘love’
and other things. ’
he plays
texas hold ’em
those games
television broadcasts
from somewhere
sun-glassed players hide
within themselves
and women drape like tinsel
texas hold ’em
he plays that game
in glass and neon
poker rooms
without time
he forgets himself
fades like mist
he weaves
through her life
a thread
that frays and
twists
and breaks
they tie
the ends
again
at a corner shop she
sells coffee and doughnuts
to oil stained factory men
and boozy eyed executives
to the undead who sit until dawn
her shift’s a graveyard.
they pay their
rent in coins and bills
in promises
he knows the game
she’s
learned
his language
aces
on the river
flush
this shit
her wedding ring
is twisted
on a broken finger
Angela Zimmerling is a former journalist who works in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and illustration. She is passionate about human and animal welfare, and the planet. She lives on a small subsistence farm with her beloved animals and husband.