What a funny expression, as if we were sitting
down for a pleasant meal at the Excellent Dumpling House
and some nameless force spun the lazy
susan when we weren’t looking, and suddenly
the pheasant was out of your reach. As if we were throwing
dice down a long table in Vegas and luck finally found
or deserted us. No, the table must be between us,
I suppose. Or common to us, as if staring at the wall
of a third grade class one day, and the long chart of two
times two and three and four suddenly referred to some
other kind of math, with all the rules changed. But no,
that is not right either, because in that classroom
we would both be equally powerless and afraid.
Frankly, I think the whole conceit is hollow.
No table has turned. We have, sitting at it,
and now it seems it must be time to walk away.
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this is really cool--it reads to me like a dramatic monologue--like someone had just said the title--i detect a hint of the personal, but the way it reads now is almost as if the "us" is the speaker and reader--but I suspect there's more of a specific "you", yes? I think it needs to remain subtle but I'd love to see it more.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence is great, took me a few times to realize what "have" was referring to, but I think that's right.