THESE WICKED GAMES

Never play Chicken with Steve
or I Never
or Mercy.
That boy plays for keeps
in the games children live.
He is brutal
and experienced
and, however engaged or competitive you may be,
he wins.

Steve is a winner
in a world of whiners
and is proud of his successes
in these wicked games.
He takes toys seriously
long after others might have
long ago given them up.

And playing with Steve
is a sucker’s bet
for he sucks the joy out of pleasure
and makes everything a contest
with consequences too dire
to deliberate.

So never play Catch with Steve
or Horse
or Race.
Never wrestle or argue with the boy
it is too important that he win
and too difficult to have fun.