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.