Rigged

more and more
as I walk the streets
forest paths
or the aisles
of grocery stores
and study the faces
of the aged
I see ...
that the most common expression
is that of one who discovers
at the end
that the dice were loaded
the cards marked
and that throughout the game
the black spade of the ace
had been glaring at them
like a dilated pupil
up the dealer's sleeve