Squid Games

1. The Rose of Sharon has Bloomed

World’s biggest pistachio

creepy giant doll with machine gun

who knew the happiness/open-heart fruit,

kai sing guo, blooms on trees?

Blood everywhere

natural and artificial selection at work 

(Is it natural selection if we warn them and they won’t listen?)

2. Triangle / Circle / Star / Umbrella

Are the cute alpacas decorated with pom poms

going to be sacrificed, the child inquires.

To Yahweh by Abraham or Allah by Ibrahim

(everyone knows they are the same, right?)

But cross / Virgin Mary / star  

obviously the same God and that never stopped the killing

red suits black masks / circle / triangle / square

black box tied with red ribbon

no mother to bring you an umbrella

if good rain starts to fall

3. Tug of War

Who would have thought misogyny & ageism

informed a simple game?

Snow or sand, freeze or burn

Snow-colored lizards, even stowaway spiders albino. 

White man in white shirt drove white car to White Sands

mask on, blending in so he can watch the survival game

Sunbursts over metal planks

walk off the plank or get pulled off

the rope of life guillotined in two

 

4. Marbles

Have you lost them? That’s okay, as long as you don’t lose them all

Go to the ER for these warning signs:

inability to breathe, confusion

facial droop / arm drift / speech difficulty = time to call 911.

Metal dog barks at the moon in New Mexico

land of clay, aquamarine blue and hanging dried chilies

like garlic against vampires

warding off so many the towns deserted.

Did you know there’s a ghost town in New Mexico called Corona?

(going to leave that one alone)

How about some holy water from El Santuario de Chimayo?

5. Glass Bridge

Left or right, glass might shatter

CRISIS HOTLINE: There is hope, make the call (PUSH TO CALL)

The bridge sells iridescent stones

examine the light.

Scrub Daddy rocks smile

carved with needle, not glacier

6. Squid Game

Why squid?

Why not House, Triangle / Square, or Calamari?

Independence Pass allows you to use both feet

National Geographic Series with moody sky and impossible dunes 

(re)directing the wind

Vail vale and village

purest of kitchens with mountain fish

rock bullet came from nowhere 

no such thing as a free pass home

something has to give

glass, cash or life