poker

"guard duty station". photograph by richard calmes, vietnam 1968-9.

Having given up the middle ground,
the guards laid down their cards.
Three of a kind. A couple of pairs.
Nothing out of the usual.
The high ground stood out against the clouds,
bald and distant and aerated;
the lowlands stripped and blistered.

It was, they agreed - taciturn and scowling -
crudely uneven of hand. And folded.