[ On Poetry ] Of Fifth Columns

   
It only takes a single    
erratic, ill conceived line    
being the crack in a column    
of stanza erected upon stanza      
allowing for an entire Poem's collapse    
in house-of-cards fashion    
     
Dealt nothing less    
than a winning hand  
yet it wasn't enough  
to satisfy --- you     
pilfered an Ace  
from another's deck    
supposedly ensuring  
what would further gain    
from their loss  
     
Perhaps in the next lifetime    
you will consider not risking    
everything invested into your    
building from the ground up    
on one lousy, cheap strut