You were the Royal Flush

It’s hard
to be lost
in the shuffle
when you were never
even in the shuffle
to begin with,
like two jokers
in a deck of cards
we were made
for one another.

Can’t you see?
Or am I just
dying to be an Ace!
At least then
I’d have your attention
instead of picking hearts
like I’m a sure straight,
when we both know
you were the Royal Flush
who called my bluff.

You were the Royal Flush
that beat me at my own game.

Motivational speaker

I have met
some pretty good
motivational speakers,
and some pretty bad ones.
And I can assure you,
none of the good ones
are getting paid.
You won’t find them
on the self help rack.
They don’t charge for their advice.
But they’re always there,
waiting.
They’re waiting for you.

For better or worse, he wondered.

He wondered
what was wrong.

The internet
held the ability
to allow a man
to see and wonder.

Though he knew
better than to ask.

The internet too
had the ability
to allow a man
to instantaniously react.

Though he knew
better than to act.

For better or worse
he wondered, alone
in a coffee shop
like he’d done before,
in past lives
he’d lived and loved
long before the internet —
man wondered.

Toeing the edge

There is a fine line —
like a tightrope walker
toeing the edge —
between
complaint and contradiction
that makes me want to set
this whole word farm on fire.