Fifty-Two Card Pick-Up
by Christine Adams Beckett
“…a game is indeed a clear instance of a process wherein obedience to common rules by elements pursuing different and even conflicting purposes results in overall order.”
-Fredereich August von Hayek
“It is not certain that everything is uncertain.”
-Blaise Pascal
Black suits, smoke, where
There is a red suit, Fire!,
Heralding an unforeseen shower
Of plastic-coated playing cards.
Unfurled, twisting mid-air:
A confusion of butterflies
In transition, in migration,
Suspended in uncertainty.
They fall in a shuffled flutter,
Bent and creased from its
Squeezing projector, in chaos.
Yet each card in perfect design
Symmetrical, rests,
Having lost its mates to
The radiator, the couch cushion,
A rabble of once air born dust clouds.
The deck, useless for solitaire,
Is incomplete, but suitable
For a game of war – or –
As building blocks
For a new house of cards.
Very nicely written.
Thanks, Mike!
Christine,
Just stumbled across your site and other writings, truly wonderful!! Drove around West Shore today and was
In a state of disbelief. Was looking for site of Birches Inn, and the home that Adams built, just vanished …, Daughter home from Cornell today, head life guard at
Washington Club for the summer, nice… Very much enjoyed your other blog entries..,,