Scrabble

The board’s tidy squares once reassuring, now gone,
this game they’d been playing nightly,
(Mom points to an empty spot on the shelf)
the ups, the downs, muted pinks and the blues.
This game they’d been playing nightly,
“to keep him sharp,” she offers,
the downs, ups, muted pinks and blues,
those thumb-rubbed tiles and that faceless one.
“To keep him sharp,” she offers,
“I’d even lose a game or two.”
I imagine the fast-fading tiles and that faceless one
upside down on the table, a jumble.
“I’d even lose a game or two,
though I don’t think he noticed.”
Tiles upside down on the table, a jumble
“I tried not to use the q or the z,
though I don’t think he noticed.”
A kitchen lamp is lit, everything in violet shadow.
“I tried not to use the q or z,
but you’d be surprised how hard it is to lose.”
A kitchen lamp is lit, everything in violet shadow.
Mom points to an empty spot on the shelf.
You’d be surprised how hard it is to lose
the board’s tidy, reassuring squares, now gone.

Elizabeth Volpe
“Scrabble” appeared in River Styx.