Poetry

AFP photo

By

Alejandro Escudé

The Game

Still the traces lead to the man who gamboled

between reality and video game, transmogrified

from one to seven figurines on the offensive line.

Madden to maddened, the staccato blood-ring,

the game in the gaming, and the gamer thug

burned hours before—burning brain-house. Gun.

What must it be like to turn away from that fun?

Grid of light, eyes buried, yardage-prone, break

for lunch, the space sound of popping shells

through the back and out, or lodged like addicts

in mother’s treehouse. Dad nowhere but in hell.

What was that? Oh fuck! What he shoot me with?

What. With. Shoot. Me. He. The prize, the winner,

and God bullet-ridden, zero score, and thinner.

Alejandro Escudé

Alejandro Escudé’s first book of poems, My Earthbound Eye, was published in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.