Cards

1956
My siblings
And I sit on the
Floor playing cards
We shuffle the deck deal
Out all the cards then each
Of us plays a card face down
Then we reveal and high card
Wins and we proceed to the
Next round not a complex
Game but fun to win and
We are still kids who in
Our teens will feel too
Grown up to play so
Simple a game and
While my sibs play
Card games my
Choice is to oil
Paint my desk
To depict the
Desert War
In North
Africa
Using black
Thread to form
Squares for movement.
Then I make cardboard units
To show the order of battle on
Each side fascinated by how
Things happen in wars I
Later paint the entire
European theatre
On a ping-pong
Table and a
Few sheets
Of plywood all
To model campaigns
So at 15 I feel like Tristram
Shandy’s uncle building
Replicas of Marlboro’s
Battles and sieges
In the garden,
Content to
Go over
Past
Campaigns
In poems now.