Solitaire

The solitary woman plays solitaire
On the weathered foldout table
She keeps where she can watch the sunset
Draw three?
Risky…
Draw one?
Safe…
Withered hands on automatic
Move the cards
Reset the deck
Over and over
To find that card, this card
A card she needs to move forward
Peripherally, she sees children laughing
Lovers kissing
People living
There is the man that used to love her
She drew one
Safe
He has found another woman
Another deck
She resets her deck again
Jokers with wide, acidic smiles
Spectators in this game
Gaze knowingly
Ha, ha, ha
The hilarity of it all hits her
The futility of it all breaks her
This is absurd
This joke has no punchline
Hysterical
She laughs until she cries
She has dealt herself a safe hand
An unwinnable hand
No time to reset
Ha, ha, ha
Fuck