Games

These games, I’m sick of them,
Complained the lovers in the rowboat
Playing solitaire. Aristotle taught them,
Whose tic-tac-toe was unbeatable.

Just play along, replied Rapunzel,
As she teased her grim and dirty suitors with Jenga
In a parlor of tin crowns
While a modern red light district

Was erected up around her.
Monopoly was Kant’s favorite,
Although he was a notorious cheat,
And Pinochle, game of tricks,

Was dealt late into the night
In Hatshepsut’s tomb
By her mummified architects and their devilry
Who were petrified of the dark.

As for the rest of us, we buy our games
At garage sales in Ancient Greece.
The rulebook is lost, so we end up playing
Pick-up sticks with our butt cheeks.