even the name has charm: pool
table; and with you bending beside
it with your slender back and maroon
sweater, steel-denims & withdrawing
eyes made our casual game different
than all the rest; pale cheeks, gold-
framed glasses, pink carnation smile
breathing a skin’s mock perfume
of cigarettes & whiskey Coke belied
that different game men & women play
balls rolled and cue sticks stroked
between fingers, a rack that was tight
each and every time
i don’t remember who won
only the loose quarters
laying loosely on the slick railing