The Card Players

A fourth was needed so one of the three

Invited a friend and I came along as a spare

In case a chair was empty since I could fill

In as easily as I could shout out a rhyme.

As the jive flowed like the River Jordan

And Joshua and his trumpets sounded the alarm

The winning cards slam damned on the table

And I laughed along with morning noon and night.

My three big brothers: bold smart handsome.

One slim as a stick of dynamite, the second solid

As a line backer and the third crazy enough

To fight them both if they let it roll beyond talk.

Treated me like a child even after I had my first.

The three of them (ace king and a wild card)

Improbably born within four years as if Daddy

And Momma were trying to break a record

Or win a bet about how many diapers a woman

Could change in a single day without cursing

The hand God had dealt her; the odds were even

Until I came along years later to tell their story.