they sat and played

boredom and monotony sat together

at the same gaming table.

believing that they were playing 

in the same human occupancy game.

either side could show advantage,

as the mind, 

as table created evidence,

as the game ever continued.

first boredom would get listless,

as facial cues on the human would reveal.

then monotony would sigh,

as if a slideshow of the same slide

was ever, next slide, happening, 

as if incessantly playing.

neither side winning,

but both making presence evident,

as the moments of play rambled on.

one would eventually take precedent

but for now, positionality of mood played on.

sure there were other tells on display.

routine would display a formal ongoingness,

as a set of behavioral manners, 

that seemed contained in purpose pursued,

despite whatever the interior of the self would say.

and habituals, as if subtler manners, 

played a low key style,

using yawns, off hand scratching 

of alternate arm or side pokes at one's face,

as adjustment in some facial measure.

neither was playing the mind-game directly

but both were easier contributors to the on-goings.

if you were astute,

you could ascertain the hidden evidence 

of worry about what was already done

or the fret about what there was to do.

in either case, behavior would subtly display.

and as for the overt behaviors,

the ones with overtures of intent,

they would look like challenge, launched in speech

or sidebar feedback, given indirectly to spurn.

both possibly done as a way of tackiness as distraction

or a release of unclaimed tension spreading all around.

yet this was boredom versus monotony straight up,

as a form of poker, passing the mind-time,

supposedly spent on the game of attention.

you'd think that either of them

could have gone off with play or whimsy

as possible enjoyable ploys.

but not to be so.

boredom was working towards a judgment call.

something that would end the effort at gaming,

while monotony wanted the gaming to continue,

figuring on braking boredom's judgment stance.

monotony would go the extra mile if needed

and boredom wanted to withdraw all together,

like a frame-break that ended their efforts,

with a summoned victory as a change of mind,

while monotony was game to have a life of this,

even if it had to marry depression.

eventually boredom broke down,

had a change of heart as intervention,

while monotony finally realized that 

there was no confrontation intended.

that boredom is essentially just a mind game.

it needs props to, to continue to play,

while monotony does mind gaming

but has residuals investing in emotional support

that boredom does not really possess.

so monotony took a deep stance 

as to all that was happening, 

while boredom went on its way

on to something else in the making. 

and maybe they both realized

that they were not ever really playing

in the same game.

even though they both had god given rights

to the game-board of human occupancy . . .