November 13, 2024Cribbage Lessons
The summer Dad decided it was time
I learned crib, counting fifteen two,
fifteen four, I loved doing the sums
in my head, tallying up the pairs,
runs, as if life were arithmetic,
which at six it was. Going into
second grade, the owner of three
hand-me-down bathing suits from
one sister, two cousins, I went
swimming five times a day and at
the general store one mile away,
bought a dime’s worth of penny
candy from a woman who had to
be a hundred. In four years mom
would have her mastectomy; in ten
she’d be dead. We didn’t know any
of that then. Just that it all adds up
until it doesn’t. Then you’re skunked.
from #85 – Musicians