Left Bower
joseph felkers
How you call me something short of a slur
when I play the jack
of spades. How
it’s funny because I forgot
to follow suit last trick.
How they can use that word
themselves, but you can’t.
A screen door only becomes venerable
when a dog worships
at its feet. Push your heels
into the coals, and see if they’ll burn,
is how I start every prayer.
Smoke is haziness, haziness is uncertainty.
Should I trump? Junk? Pray? Steal
the trick. How the smoke is a teenage boy
begging for a chew.
He hangs around and asks
for a light. He carries a smell
that you want
in your nose,
but off your clothes. How you can’t bear
when we euchre you. I went
alone and got four points.
You said I would’ve had the perfect
hand for a diamond trump, but close only counts
in horseshoes and hand grenades.
69