Saturday night gathering
Of the two member club of bad moods
and contemplations
My friend with her hair tied back
Shuffling a deck of cards
I feel like I have done this
A thousand times
She says
She deals
We are playing shed
The only game we both know by heart
I know that she was always better than me
But I am trying to give her
A run for her money
Suddenly face up on the table
A jack of clubs with torn corners
The look of tired and impatient confusion
Drawn permanently on his face
My friend looks up at me
eyes gleaming with amusement
I laugh and say that I think
That's my mood of the day
She smiles
I was just going to tell you
That same thing
I know that look of fatigued detachment
The one you get when you realize
that the game you play has rules
And no one ever bothered
to tell you about them
Jack, it's going to be ok
This game is tough and tedious
But when it's all over
You will be shuffled right back
into a new one
And this time
it's going to feel
a lot like home