you always loved card games.
slaps, war, jacks.  you name it, we played it.
but your favorite card game was called hearts.

we dealt our love, feelings, friends. we threw them all on the table.
you had me deal my heart.

and we played.

like always, since it was your favorite, you won.
taking what was dealt on the table and walking out.

i still think about this wicked game you played. and i still think about my heart. i wonder if it beats for you, i doubt it would. but sometimes in the earlier hours if the morning ill see you.

and i can feel my old heartbeat in my fingertips, slowly drifting me off to sleep. and making me think, if part of me still longs to play the game.

among shaking,
dancing palm fronds
he pumps his veins
with curls of smoke
reclines in his throne
slowly, it's a science
gold in his fingers
and jungle snakes
and twitching beats
excite his bones

sometimes i fade away into empty bottles of ***,
and unsmoked cigarettes.
instead of fading away into your arms.
i find this quite sad

you have my hands tied back with a thin silk rope.
you tighten this rope when you feel me slipping from you.
i even has a name.
love.