new game:
let’s find a name for
the way my heart beats so fast
every stranger that walks past me
can hear it
a name not tachycardic
when i question the way you love me
i cannot help but feel 

new game:
we play hide and seek
i never find you
i’ll spend the next 4 years
searching
and lose myself 

new game:
monopoly
i will spend my love
on you until bankruptcy
you will turn my home
into rubble
i won’t be able
to move 

new game:
risk
without the reward
you will conquer my world
with your armies
i’ll understand why
the numbered black and white object
is called a die 

new game:
scrabble
we’ll make up words
and lie
start by creating a word
for the way you manage
still not to see me
when we make eye contact 

new game:
mastermind
we have been playing it
since the first time we spoke
i’m still trying 
to crack your code
i keep running out of guesses  

new game:
sorry
and this time
you’ll mean it
stop sending my pawn
to the beginning 

new game:
i am tired of being
strategic
of calculating
my moves
of being deceitful
i don’t want to keep playing
my body is sore
of losing
please stop keeping
score
there’s no roulette left to spin
i was never a prize
you wanted to win

Assia Messaoudi (she/they) is a 25 year old Algerian poet born in Toronto, Ontario. Assia's poetry has been described as “evocative imagery [that] opens up your view of yourself and the human condition.” You can get in touch with Assia at assiamessaoudi.com.