The King Game

Winner of the 2023 49th Parallel Award for Poetry

         
                               
                                           I want to fit something here
about how my father used to console me—told me
I was a poor thinker because, when I was a baby,
I got so smart so fast God placed a worm in my ear

to eat my wisdom. Balance me out. This rendition
of my father—it’s too heavy. I spend hours circling it
trying to find a good grip, a bit of leverage. A liftable
truth: my father loved the King Game. Which king is

quietest? Thin-king. Which king worries? Panic-king.
Which king destroys your lungs? Shipwrec-king. I
often guessed wrong. Ruined his fun. Sometimes
it’s an overwhelm of lifeboats that sinks

the vessel. I’m on the verge of learning my lesson.
The perfect world is the world without him.

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Paige Lewis is the author of Space Struck (Sarabande Books, 2019). Their poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. They teach creative writing at the University of Iowa.