THIS GAME IS CALLED "GUTS":

Anything opens.
Five card draw
poker, dollar, no limit.
Not for the timid
or weak at heart--
I was both,
but skilled
at bluffing.

I knew the game
was rigged
when I sat down:
five women
and me:
Women always had
the stronger hand
and knew
how to play it.

I raise
three cocks,
I crowed.
I call,
and raise a cunt,
the weakest looking
replied, hardly able
to breathe
let alone
speak;
they cackled
in unison.
I knew
I was
a goner.
My dick,
as hard
as it was,
was no match
for the most slushy
of cunts--
virtually
indestructible.

I folded
my hand.
Fucked again,
I said
to myself.
I got up
from
the table.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2013-2015