Learning the Rules

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Learning the Rules


Then just when you slip into the bright

thought that you might have drawn the card

that lets you skip the dark square

and remain in the game till it's time

to pack it back into the box,

it’s suddenly the friend of a friend

or the freshman when you were a senior, 

an old teammate’s little sister

whose name you’re closing in on 

like a noose. Did the neighbor's dog

slip his collar again? What is that

incessant snuffling under the door? 

And does the pamphlet we lost

say anywhere just how many times

we get to point and say okay,

it’s your turn

                     till it’s not anymore? 

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