How much prescience
did you leave behind
futures left unfelt
How much transience
were you denied
with aces left undealt
How many doors
stayed closed and shut
no matter how hard you knocked
How many chances
did you waste
— as you slaved before the clock
(Dreamsleep: October, 2025)
He outlived his father
to outlive himself
The shadow he chased
—an ace left undealt
(Dreamsleep: January, 2022)
Lost in a card game
that others would pass
I feel the time slowing
while covering fast
A dim all-night roadhouse
blue plate of regret
whose neon but flickers
my hunger to bet
A pot full of memory
has come unannounced
with bare knuckled waging
I raise every doubt
But the road’s calling silent
its direction unclear
my thumb pointing inward
to ante the fear
The odds long but taken
to gamble and run
my fortune extended
and past rebegun
A graveyard sits lonely
on the side of a hill
awaiting those fated
last dealer to kill
A light in the distance…
the ‘Omaha Gate’
it’s twelve minutes early
tomorrow is late
Asleep in the boxcar
alone with myself
the questions keep playing
—one ace left undealt
(Sinking Springs Diner: December, 2021)
Can you have a mind
and not have a soul
Connection temporal,
divorced from the whole
Can consciousness live
for only itself
A hand with three aces
—His card left undealt
(Rosemont Pennsylvania: April, 2021)
Untold
By Valerie Odom
Feb 28, 2015
They told us that we’d come into the world unblind
That it was our time
That our generation was the one
And when I’m with the quarters before the dimes
They said our generation was too much to handle
That we’d cussed, killed, and let free of the control
We disrespected
We were defective
Like a monkey being tested
I guess we failed
It ain’t all a big deal
We got drugs and guns
Tv’s and son
Education ain’t on the run
It’s just a matter of cause n effect
They don’t wanna learn now
But in a few years while they got a child
They gone wish they had got sum education
Instead of taking the long road
They got sum scissors
And cut the pathway shorter
They think they aced life
But karma’s a *****
While rent’s due most money spent on strips and little bags of dip
They got time to get take out
But don’t got time to finish that essay
Most families are breaking up
Single ladies are adding up
Why deal with the undealt
Stories untold, never felt
Life’s too short to keep things inside
Just like Trayvon Martin some dreams die
Make most of today cause you might not get tomorrow while it’s your escape.
Living In Terror
Wide awake, eyes open, unable to speak from being too scared
Traumatized and internally afraid, wounded beyond all repair...
Teeth clenched, eyes watering, Dear God this is all so unfair
My fault, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have ever of been there...
Undealt with emotions from the turmoil of a story never shared
Secret, keep it secret, trying to believe that nobody would care...
She could hear her ignorant mother, "Now dear you should be more aware"
Left alone but never alone, now she lives within constant terror...
bmdavey@
03/21/16
Who knows how and when
Is wrought and shaped the secret hearts of men
Very well veiled from the eye
Of even the keenest spy
But its abundance is rich
To rule over speech
To the detail of sentiment
And its accompanying temperament
Though withholding buried secrets
We could confidently reveal daunting regrets
And all pasts undealt
That remain heavily heartfelt
To a trusted Father in God
Whose approving nod
Is to make you see clearly
The precepts to value dearly
Last night, my longest.
The dreary routine of sleepless nights.
Tossing and turning,
Wishing for could Be's,
Living off impossibilities.
A heart worn from loving you,
My body simply lifeless.
I gave you my prized possession,
That wasn't enough.
The warmth in your tone,
Makes my walls crumble every time you speak.
Your touch weakens me, Asthenia
My hands toughed from working for your love
My feet bleed from running after you
Chasing you, is like chasing infinity
So many walls to break down,
So many undealt with emotions.
Too many restrictions to get to you,
I give up.
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