Saturday, October 12, 2024

roulette wheel August 17th 2012

 I suffer from one Tuesday to the next

like a roulette wheel that sometimes

 lets the ball stop on black

and another time at red

 and on those unfortunate Tuesdays

the 00 of green

 today she is nice to me

comes to ask me for a number

she likely already has

or about peninsula city Board of Education meeting

 she has no business asking me about

on another Tuesday she ignores me entirely

turns me into an Invisible Man for a day

not even looking at me during the meeting

 when it is my time to speak

last Tuesday she even smiled at me

 maybe laughing

maybe defiant

maybe a look of victory that mocks me in my defeat

 when I dare not smile back

or let my stare linger on her

 even as she struts up the stairs

 like a fashion model or movie star

wearing sun dress and sunglasses

 waiting for me to request an autograph

I stay in my cupboard beneath the stair

an unwanted wizard

who lacks magic even to know

what next Tuesday might bring

 


email to Al Sullivan

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