The Big Bang Theory of Scrabble
Mara says what she likes best about me
is how easy I am to please
like when she showed me how to make
Celtic borders in Microsoft Word
I clapped my hands and cheered
And when she said –
while looking up a word
playing scrabble –
The dictionary always distracts me
I giggled and wrote it down
What I like best about Mara
is that she frequently says things
I want to write down
Like yesterday she offered this confession:
I want Sy Safransky (editor of The Sun Magazine)
to love me
Mara loves words
They beg for her attention
and for them we both dig deeper
in and out our hands descend
into the drawstring bag
as if the letters in it were nuggets of gold
and we could be rich if only we could spell
Rumplestilskin!
Some women play bridge
or poker with men
Mara and I play scrabble
to spin the world
stanza by stanza
a newborn creation each time
In and out our hands coax letters
like Major Arcane from tarot
We lay them out to know our future
to surprise ourselves with their power
We talk while we play
about extra-sensory perceptions
colors of crayons
her triple spiral tattoo and tea
Her turn then mine
question then answer
It’s easier to be gay or hetro-sexual
than it is to be bi-sexual
she muses
Because neither group fully claims you
I finish her thought
as the board opens up
with all possibilities on the table
She lets the dictionary distract her
while I excavate 10 points of Q
and try
to curb
my enthusiasm
How are you with paperwork?
she changes the subject
You mean writing poetry? I ask
holding my pen in the air
as if I was studying an atom on its tip
or bidding on a Salvor Dali painting
No, I mean balancing your check book
The atom falls off
Explodes a new word
She’s inventing Goddess names
for a new generation
And I
am writing
this down
I never balance my check book
I never know what Mara will say next
Post Notes: My Scrabble game with Mara got canceled today. This poem is my consolation post. For more Scrabble antics with Mara, my poetry and Scrabble buddy, and others I play with, you can scroll through my Scrabble Category Archive HERE.
August 11th, 2006 10:44 am
First, thanks for stopping by my blog and explaining “meme”. I got it! I still haven’t quite figured out this “13 Thursday” thing yet but I am working on it.
Now…perhaps if I had been hanging around your blog longer I would understand exactly who Mara is but nevertheless, she has captured my attention based on your description of the Scrabble game interaction. It is no wonder you have to be writing down her comments all the time. I love ‘spontaneous’! I love being around people like Mara and especially warm up to the way they convey humor.
Reminds me of one comment I heard years ago from someone at the dinner table who was obviously enjoying a good meal when they nonchalantly chimed in with a….”You know, this is just so good I wish I had a bigger mouth.” I laughed so hard I lost my appetite. Some might miss the humor I suppose, but I loved it. That sounds like something Mara might say.
Thanks….really….I enjoyed your post today a great deal.
August 11th, 2006 11:12 am
Hi Alan, You bring up a very good point … that not everyone knows Mara. She is a regular at Loose Leaf and so are my posts about SCRABBLE. Your comment prompted me to add a link introducing Mara and to ther Scrabble posts. Thanks!
13 Thursday is a meme. Click the link below my 13 Thursday to the 13 Thursday “Hub,” and let the fun begin!
August 11th, 2006 12:50 pm
i’ll play with you @1:30. see ya at the cafe
August 11th, 2006 5:29 pm
🙂 A scrabble comic for ya: http://www.savagechickens.com/blog/2006/08/scrabble.html
August 11th, 2006 9:07 pm
Tell Mara I said “Bad girl!” for cancelling out on you!!I would never do that!
August 12th, 2006 10:51 am
Michele sent me to the mountains to see you, Colleen.
I used to play Scrabble a lot but the people I played with have all drifted out of my life. Pity. Now there’s not much game playing except on the computer–but life keeps changing so maybe Scrabble will come back into my life at some point. I’m keeping it on a shelf in my storage room just in case!
August 12th, 2006 12:14 pm
My mom received this packet to track our household radio listening. Somehow we got on a list for a research poll. I am afraid they will be sorely disappointed. Mine will likely read….did not listen to the radio today…. for the entire week. I tried to remember when I listened to the radio last, and it turned out to be the first of June on the long trip to Illinois and then it was satellite radio and not the regular stations.
Somehow I think this makes me even stranger than I thought I was in the first place. And because this comment has nothing to do with Scrabble, it must mean I have reached the “over the top” point of weirdness.
Anyway, hope a Scrabble game is in your weekend plans.
August 13th, 2006 6:24 am
Colleen, I went over to the fish fry to see her photo of the moonflower. I never thought to take a pic before it unfurled! That looks so interesting, even though I’ve seen them a lot in person!
August 16th, 2006 9:59 pm
“Mara loves words
They beg for her attention
and for them we both dig deeper
in and out our hands descend
into the drawstring bag
as if the letters in it were nuggets of gold
and we could be rich if only we could spell
Rumplestilskin!”
[excellent!]
“We talk while we play
about extra-sensory perceptions…colors of crayons
her triple spiral tattoo…and tea”
[Beautiful!]
Hey, it talkes all kinds~,:^)
July 6th, 2009 7:28 am
hey! (:
LOVE ur poem. nyc girl!
February 24th, 2015 7:50 pm
[…] sent the scrabble poem I wrote for my poet friend Mara to Sy Safransky, editor of The Sun Magazine. It was Rosemary, a […]