Playing Cards in My Mother’s Hands

Shuffling steps and sick cough
A heart murmur in the cards
Cards changing hands and faces
Palms on the table levitate hope
Fingers open empty hands
Letters to the dead never end
Shoe boxes and photo albums
And closets full of clothes
End of life affairs papers and chairs
An oxygen machine shuffles air
My deal your card this spade
This force my blood God’s clubs
Love at face value wins the hand
Count winnings count losses
Mix in the dust of names
Mix in the suits of lunar phases
Cut the deck and the sums
Have a probability density
Half the distance to the sun
Deal a magnetic north and go
Wild cards are the gift of the void

Scan0035

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