Game 3 (37 words [=37 lines])

posted Aug 10, 2010

CAPE RUT / APT CURES / ACUTE TRAPS

Royalty is a card game in which players “meld” and “capture” words. To meld is to link letters together to construct a word. A soldering of sorts. To capture a word is to rob the word someone has melded and to rearrange it into a new word. Each player has seven cards in her hand at a time (replenished after each "meld" and/or "capture) until the cards are exhausted (tired).

ex. C A T
      T A C K Y

ex. P I R A T E
      P R I V A T E E R

ex. F A R
      R A F T
      F A R T E D
      D R A F T E D

*

N A P S / P L A  N S / P L A I N S
U L E / M U L E  / F L U M E
C O N / C O U N  T
R A W / W A R M  S
R A R E / B A R  R E L
P E T / P A T É  / P A T E N T / P A T I E N T
Y O U / B U O Y
O A K
A N Y / N A V Y  / V A N I T Y
N E T / T I N E
O A R / L O A F  E R
V E X
H U E
J I V E
D A R E / R A G  E D
B O R E D
J O Y
W I D E / W I E  L D
C O D
H A T / T H A N

leftovers: I Z  Y O I Q Q Z X

*

YULE-tide  ULE tree   YOU’ll treat me
to  PATÉ and crumb-PETS a tongue
will  lure from crates of teeth
One  NAPS in the RAW
a  BORED DARE if you COUNT
the  PATIENT more PATIENT
THAN  a HAT
who  CONs a WIDE JOY
into  a LOAFER
to  narrow that JOY
NAVY  WARMS to a RAREr HUE
a  MULE PATENTs a field:
a  NETwork of OAK
If  there’s ANY VANITY left
the  nose is no BUOY
on  the lake of YOUr face
but  a cheekbone as a COD
curved  in paddling is okay
The  watery TINEs of some falls
stab  at spectacle: a BARREL
turned  burial
Either  OAR for a coaxing wave
Either  OAR for hooking debris
A  JIVE VEXes the PLAINS
calls  dust up    a bust-up
of  wind (reminiscent of when…)
A  bowl a bowl and a FLUME
From  a BARREL to a hole in
a  replica of a log
a  body plugs    plunges
willfully            a willed falling
PLANS  RAGED on
No  comPLAINtS BARRELed out
though  some VANITY DAREd a complaint
to  face it          to deface it
To  WIELD and will a skinning
A kin-making  bareness, o baroness of blankness

Kristi Maxwell is the author of Hush Sessions, Realm Sixty-Four, and Elsewhere & Wise. She recently completed her Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati.

Maxwell’s poem “Game 1 (36 words [=36 lines])” also appears in this issue.