djehuti deal - for lauren brown

Djehuti deal

Thoth shuffles the deck.
His feathered thumbs
interlace each card with its twin,
base pairs of my story.

The corners of the cards are bent.
This deck has been used before
so my story is not new.
I find that comforting.

Thoth does some flashy tricks.
The cards catapult from one hand
to the other across the gap of a lifetime.
I think he’s trying to distract me, bless him.

“Pick a card”, he says
fanning the deck before me
like a peacock buzz saw.
“Any card”

My fingers touch one card then another,
flirting with a fate
they must unwillingly consummate.
They stick to a card.

I have seventy six choices,
arcana major and minor.
Three score and ten and six,
more than a lifetime.

The horse is as white as the rose
on the black standard,
as white as the skull of the rider
with the gotcha grin.

Seventy six choices and I get this one.
“Thoth, is the deck loaded?”
“Yes but don’t take it personally.”
There is a pause (for dramatic effect).

Thoth pulls a coin from behind my left ear
and another from behind my right
and places them on my eyes.
I ask him how it‘s all done

and with an ibis smile he tells me.

Get the mp3.

I have a confession to make. I didn't come up with the mix of Thoth and the tarot. This piece owes a big debt to Hot Head by Simon Ings - which is a awesome book that you should all read (if you can find it).