nine of spades
he shuffled the deck as quickly
as he talked
telling stories about kings and queens
and barbers in the castle
something about the three jacks
hanging out at the fire station
playing checkers with their pals
pick a card he said
proceeding to ramble on about the
price of milk and gasoline and
disposable razors
did you look at your card he asked
yeah I looked at my card I said
keeping the card face down I
slid it back into the deck
certain he didn’t see it
he shuffled the cards and shuffled
them again and continued to
shuffle the shit out of them
as he went on and on
babbling about how man never
really landed on the moon
how fairy tales used to scare him straight
and how the pope was really lucifer
having the time of his life
he splayed the deck across the table
and I could see my card but it was mostly
covered by the king of hearts
when I looked up he had stopped talking
and was just staring at me
expressionless
what’s wrong I asked him
nothing’s wrong with me he said
but I’d like to know how long
you’re planning on hiding your
misfortune behind the suicide king
july two thousand fourteen
copyright j matthew waters
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