Lottery
Hear the author read this poem
Pick a number,
any number,
and it will bear
the teeth marks of time.
The day confetti
stippled your shoulders
to keep love
bright and alive;
the year your newborn
son survived.
The two of us riding
the 33 bus
to the birthday bash
where a prophetic
blues band played
“You’ve Changed.”
The magnificent sum
of always, now, and still
dealt by the god
who pinched fate
into every living vein.
John Skoyles is the author of three collections of poems and a recent memoir, Secret Frequencies. He teaches at Emerson College.
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