Floyd Skloot
A Hand of Casino, 1954
My grandfather studies the cards.
His jaw juts and he begins to shift
the pink plate of his false teeth,
tonguing it out and in, mouth
widening till his grin has flipped
upside-down between the gums.
He slams a deuce onto the table.
Even at seven I know he is losing
on purpose. He mumbles deep
in his throat, a gargle of sounds
like someone choking on stones.
I think he would make sense
if his teeth were put in right.
At seven I also know that bodies
crumble but new parts can come
gleaming from dark hiding places.
I have seen, buried at the back
of his top drawer, my father’s spare
glass eye in a navy velvet box.
My mother has three heads
of stiff hair inside her closet,
just in case, and a secret pack
of fingernails in her chiffonier.
My grandfather strings phrases
of Polish and Yiddish around words
in French to hold his broken
English together. I understand
nothing he says but everything
that is in his eyes. He tells me
he is a man from the world.
That must be where he learned
that losing is winning as a frown
is a smile and a curse is a kiss.
When I lay down the good
deuce, he smacks his furrowed
brow and curses high heaven.
Page(s) 31-32
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