Originally published by: SPECTRUM Literary Anthology, CCS @ UCSB, 2008 # CLVV
I am a snake-eyed chef,
a boxcar attendant–afraid
The pendulum of doom swings in our direction.
Like so many of the masses.
I expect the sucker punch,
the unsolicited slap,
So surprising–still
The blow from behind.
Accurately sudden sweep,
Sweat stink-ridden grip to the next,
Careless Hand of space and time,
Only the divine sends us smothering into fetid darkness.
“Kiss it baby, for luck”
Crushing pressure,
Thrown at the wall of predictable fate,
to change each other–
or copy one another.
Surrendering
to an unknowable quantity,
Vital to believe–
Emerging unexpectedly high an–
Eleven on a scale of twelve,
a talented chance to change, and I
Leave the table as one.
Cash in my chips to buy–
The right to a
New and undefined
Me–I can’t wait
to break the box.
May 2, 2012 






Reblogged this on Charron's Chatter and commented:
my second real publication ever–in Spectrum at UCSB literary journal. I was so proud…and am…
Congratulations… Beautiful Piece and for what its worth I am proud of you too! 🙂 Joe
Thank you, Joe. 🙂 It was partly this poem’s publication that set me on my path as a serious writer a decade+ ago. (and prolly a million words…;)