The Zen of Solitaire

17 May 2010 | Filed Under Poetry 

Here’s a poem I wrote for a class third year. Whenever I was stuck writing, I’d open solitaire and play until I zoned out, and that’s when the ideas would flow.

I don’t have solitaire on this computer. :(

The Zen of Solitaire

At first you’re
caught up in
the game itself:

red on black,
move the king,
six on seven.

but as the cards
begin to blur together
your mind unfolds itself and floats

high above the game, focusing on
bigger problems than “where’s the two
of hearts?” and small details click into place

just like the eight of spades on the nine of diamonds
but into configurations beyond red on black and black on red
until they become a new set of rules all in itself so that the hearts

are supposed to fall diagonally across the board and two and threes are
the true kings and queens of the deck parading up and down the lines in robes of
state with naught but clubs to follow them with bars of gold and diamond jewels for the

real diamonds have spent the lot on bribes to bring their suit to the top of the piles of cards while aces
sneak around like rogues to keep you from winning the game of hide-and-seek that you’ve started but can’t seem to
let go no matter how long it takes and now the cards are back to front and upside-down but it doesn’t matter because all the world’s

a card game and all the men and women merely jacks of spades and other trades and round and round the deck we go beyond the five of stars
and past the constellations with your mind racing at the speed of computer chips but the computer moving cards with a click slower than tectonic plates with columns
shifting like the continents from the Indian Ocean to the Plains of Hearts full of twisting tornadoes that tear up the clubs-houses by the diamond dozens but it’s time to fly and you

X

Comments

2 Responses to “The Zen of Solitaire”

  1. Julie Dao on May 17th, 2010 12:23 pm

    Wow, I really like this! I love how you sort of bring a human side to the cards and personify them.

  2. Jenn on May 17th, 2010 12:29 pm

    Thank you! I’m glad you like it, and doubly glad you said so!

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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