The bets are really big; it’s the last hand.
\nHe needs either the nine of spades or four.
\nJust as he’s about to ask for one card,
\ncomes a frantic knock upon the door.
\n"Call the police," he hears a man’s loud voice say,
\n"Down the street some guy just shot a cop!"
\nAs the others all run out to witness,
\nhe grabs the deck and puts the nine on top.
\nThey’d been playing all night into morning.
\nIt must be now pretty close to noon.
\nLate October day in Dallas, Texas.
\nWho could know their lives will change, and soon?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The bets are really big; it’s the last hand. He needs either the nine of spades or four. Just as he’s about to ask for one card, comes a frantic knock upon the door. "Call the police," he hears a man’s loud voice say, "Down the street some guy just shot a cop!" As the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[3,4],"class_list":["post-835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem-2","tag-poem","tag-poetry-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":337,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=337","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":0},"title":"nine ball","author":"Rick Young","date":"February 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"i am number nine i have been orphaned through a hole in the world's pocket i am a fatality of the revolution a straight roller gone awry i am a yellow brain on a black pedestal i am the breakfast choice of dead men i am the goddess of click\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/nine.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/nine.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/nine.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/nine.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=98","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":1},"title":"Tao of Now","author":"Rick Young","date":"November 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Tap our phones and cramp our styles. Lock us up without fair trials. Check our luggage for nail files. We will not be cowed. Keep tabs on library books. Categorize us by looks. Sometimes kings can fall to rooks. Freedom is our shroud. Change the laws and steal the land.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Phone","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Phone.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Phone.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Phone.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Phone.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1242,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1242","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":2},"title":"May Day 49","author":"Rick Young","date":"May 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Forty nine questions. The croaker croaks. The tweeter tweets. The garden of heathens is showing its colors. In the weeds predators huddle. Seeds of democracy are scattered. We must be active gardeners to insure truth must flower. And spring may clean our great distress.","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=861","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":3},"title":"On My Love’s Birthday","author":"Rick Young","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The blue spot fades to heartfelt red as the sun broils my eyelids. This is a hint of spring, even behind the cool glass veil. The dogwood barks. Cat o' nine tails wag. Even a hint of birdsong on the softening breeze. Soon all will be green again, and, if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":753,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=753","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":4},"title":"Early For the Pearly","author":"Rick Young","date":"September 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Angel hair is in my eyes. What a heavenly surprise. There are wing tips on my shoes. Grab my harp and play the blues. I must be up on cloud nine. I can see a bright light shine. Feel a halo on my head. I assume that I am dead.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":390,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=390","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":5},"title":"Baseball Birthdays: April nineteenth","author":"Rick Young","date":"April 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Bucky Walters pitched the Reds to series victory. In thirty-nine, he was sublime, the N.L. MVP. Harry Craft played until service called in forty-two. Became first manager of Colts and, later, Astros, too. Rick Miller broke in with the Sox and then came back again. But center field was given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}