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Open Poetry #37
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Ratleader
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Member Rara Avis
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass

0 posted 2006-03-26 11:07 AM


and the black dice roll again

every day a roll
on a table that is never green

average makes a horrid goal
when twelve and two
and twelve and two
won’t make a string of sevens

loss at either end
high and low can take on
one meaning if you let them
and the same if you don’t
in your quest for a steady center

you want the ends to mean something
and you want to try
for something that is not center
any number at all
even blank cubes

but you roll and roll
knowing fate banks every win
and with less on the table
the stack of chips grows short
on the table that is never green

sometimes you feel them
slide your way
but even winning it seems
the best you can hope for
is to hold your own
for a few more
and a few more throws

while fate shaves the dice
a little more with every one

I want to load your dice
make things come even
but I don’t know how

only game in town
and so you play
and I play too
but its spiked and we know it
even as the black dice
roll again

© Copyright 2006 Ed Ratledge - All Rights Reserved
Local Rebel
Member Ascendant
since 1999-12-21
Posts 5767
Southern Abstentia
1 posted 2006-03-26 11:16 AM


quote:

In the long run we're all dead."

John Maynard Keynes



Good work, I enjoyed it... perfectly titled.

Martie
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Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
2 posted 2006-03-26 12:18 PM


Ed...Life is a gamble...each day we win by making it into the evening.  Enjoyed the way you played this!!  
suthern
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Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
3 posted 2006-03-26 04:12 PM


but even winning it seems
the best you can hope for
is to hold your own
for a few more
and a few more throws

while fate shaves the dice
a little more with every one

I want to load your dice
make things come even
but I don’t know how

I know this game all too well... both the trying and trying without ever rolling a win... and wanting to help someone else get a decent break for once... Both situations are filled with helplessness and hopelessness and the empty feeling that you're trying to play a role you haven't even understudied.

For so many reasons, this touches me deeply. *S* I'll even loosen my grip on the dice long enough to applaud your excellence! *S*


passing shadows
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since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
4 posted 2006-03-26 05:00 PM


Bravo!!
Paul Wilson
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Member Elite
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711
United States
5 posted 2006-03-26 07:06 PM


Ed...Being a gambling man I know what you mean. Enjoyed.Damn if you do and damn if you don't...Paul

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

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