The Last Fellow Standing

By Yukki Yeung

Actuary of the Future, October 2023

In the post-apocalyptic Monte Carlo

randomly wandering the forest

I find the Decision Tree

looks like a Desert Willow

The Blue Book that I’ve been searching for

Is sitting atop an oakwood table

Venom at their feet

A python coils quietly underneath

Fear of mortality becomes realized

No prior experience study

can save me from a snake bite

Weighing in my risks and options

With my little reserve or life force

I go brute-force survival mode

the gruesome actuarial exams have trained me

to act well under pressure

like a gladiator’s while loop

nonstop

Kick, punch and hit the beast’s spinal neural network

Moment turns into infinity

I toast myself with a can of PBR beer

The last fellow still standing