they play their scratchies
lottery tickets and poker machines
like it’s their livelihood
but it’s that livelihood that’s dwindling away
you see them crushed
at the hands of chance
for the sake of an assumed better life
and maybe there is one out there
but it will never come from a ticket
it will never develop from luck
or any systems in place
it will just result in a forlorn look
upon life
there is more
always more