Poetry
Play My Hand
When it came to classroom projects
And the teacher asked students
To choose whomever they wanted
To be on a team with, I was
Either picked
Dead last
Or passed
Over entirely.
Only once
During a labour studies class in college
Was I
Chosen first
In a group classroom project.
First pick
At the business end
Of an Italian chick’s finger.
She wasn’t my type.
She wasn’t a Goth [ as I lived then ].
Probably wanted me for something
Other than a classroom project.
Didn’t feel like
I won anything.
Didn’t feel
Accomplished that day—as a fifth wheel.
I play my hand
With the marked cards I’d been dealt
Bound to cheat me
Out of a real victory.
[ For Marjorie Lotfi. ]
Dee Allen
African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California U.S.A. Active in creative writing & spoken word since the early 1990s. Author of 10 books: Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black, Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate, Plans, Crimson Stain, Discovery and his newest just released, The Mansion. Dee also has 77 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.