And Whiskey for All (Reason v. Absurdity)

God is playing board games with Himself

Names and faces plastered all over buttons and dice

"Six" means Susie dies in a car crash

"Five" is cancer for Henry

"Two" drags Mary into that loveless marriage

And whiskey for all

Mary says no, however

To the loveless marriage

to the china plates

to pottery and embroidered lace

To that yellow-eyed boy with a toothpaste grin

Henry chooses to fight cancer

He survives

For a while

Then loses to a wave of uncertain diarrhea

Nonspecific, nasty and trailing behind him like a water current

Susie leaves behind two kids and an abusive husband

Kids get lost and found

All because of Susie

Turmoil and tragedy strikes

All because of Susie

Daddy dearest breaks a leg and a collarbone

One of 'em Susie's kids dies

All because of Susie

The other grows up

Foster kid, jumping from home to home

Along the way he writes

About a crazy father, an absent mother, a brother dying in pain

All the while he asks

"Why did you leave, Mom?"

"Why did you do it, God?"

"Are you there, God?"

But God just tosses the dice

Yet Susie's writer plots his life

It's man's word vs. God's word

"Dice never lie," God murmurs

But he likes the challenge

Despite "Three" meaning Susie's writer is too broke to go to college

The kid surprises God with wits and charm

and a rich benefactor

with dimples and a crinkle in his eyes

God hums to Himself

And sighs

He failed this game

Susie's writer wins

But the board game never ends