Riley B

Life Is a Game of Cards


Life is a game of cards, like Poker. Maybe Texas Hold ‘Em, or Omaha if you’re more of the impatient type, whichever you desire.

The rules are simple, all you have to do is use the deaths of innocent people in order to fuel your success, those are your cards.

You’ll need to be sure to gather money as well as support from the general public so as to make sure you stay afloat, those are your chips.

Now, your opponents will be trying to do accomplish the very same goal, collect chips. So, in order to gain the upper hand, wear a mask that makes it seem like you care about the issues going on with this country, that is your poker face.

As per the rules, once you’ve used a card, discard it. That card is now meaningless to both you and your goal, it is trash.

If you lose a hand, if you lose your chips, blame it on the people, also known as the deck. Don’t worry about the weapons, racism, homophobia, transphobia, in other words your skills as a player.

Continue to use and eventually throw away the cards so that you are able to obtain more chips than your opponent. Whenever you screw up, lose a hand, and your skill is called into question, blame your loss on the deck, not your skill. And while all this goes down, be sure to wear a poker face.

Life is like a game of cards, and it’s your job as a television news outlet to profit.

End of Chapter

Hey

So we’re done

Our story’s finally complete

You seem sad

Don’t be sad

Please instead feel glee

You may wish you could go

back in time and live it all again

But that’s not what we’re meant to do

so instead let’s go ahead

You may bummed

may feel glum

sad that it’s all done

But isn’t it great

we got this love

we got to finish what we begun

Sure we’ll miss

these great times

yeah no doubt

we’ll miss them a lot.

But you can’t

you know you can’t

focus on them

no you cannot

There’s much more

in the future

so much more

for you

and me

Precious Gifts

for all of us

things

that we call

Memories

So I know

you’re sad

you will miss

all these times

but the past is the past

and the future is bright

Let those tears

fall away

Let happiness

Soar instead

Because we got a great future

So let’s make the most of it

Hey

There’s that smile

that pretty smile

it took you long enough

Don’t worry

I’ll show you mine

but for now let’s just talk

Shih Tzu

My dogs barked

The neighbor’s dog barked back

It was a Shih Tzu

near the bus stop

Every morning it would call for me

Every evening it would cry for me

Stop

Stop, like what was displayed on the sign near the bus

Stop, like that kid Evan stopped coming down to the bus stop with me

I heard his brother got his hands on a car

He didn’t need the bus

I still did

Stop, like how I stopped roasting marshmallows down at the little girl’s house

whose names I didn’t know

once dusk had fallen onto to the neighborhood

the only light being that of my busted, old tablet

Stop, like the words I cried when that young border collie starting feasting on my skin

furious for no reason

Stop, like the pain once the border collie managed to tear my cheek right off

time stopping right then and there

Stop, like my tears did

I remembered that this border collie was my own dog

Stop, like my best friend didn’t talk to me anymore

we had gotten into an argument

I could swear I was right

I was not

Stop, like my hopes did

two couples had moved into the vacant houses next to my own

neither had any kids

I wanted new friends

Stop, like the schoolwork

It was the end of the year

things had changed

my excitement for summer was gone

Stop, like my feet did

I had gotten off the bus

taking in the breeze

Stop, like my heart did when I didn’t see the dog

I had expected to see it running around

It was not

I wonder where it went

Every morning it would call for me

Every evening it would cry for me

It was Shih Tzu

near the Bus Stop

My dogs barked

The neighbor’s dog did not bark back