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Man Feb 10
Betting on plays
And whether teams could pull it through;
Factoring rates given to the risks
Versus stats, records, and rankings,
Of losses, successes, et cetera.
Whether physical or digital,
These playful monetary mediums
Like domestic feline & bengal tiger.
Like dog as like cat,
It's a different reaction to them
And connection with them
Having grown up around them.
These paper jaguars & plush lions,
So much for the fear of adversity
When you're trying to crunch everything.
If you're always in the middle
Of working through or thinking about something,
Punching an equation,
Then how can anyone hope
To knock you off kilter?
It's just another component-
Another addition & subtraction,
Division & multiplication,
To calculate & sum.

You've gotta be in it to win it,
And you're always just one bet away
From winning it big.
Making it good
Sometimes takes all it can take,
And even then you might not
Break even.

I sense disturbance,
See some malign figure,
In your line of reason.
Yet, through our conversations,
No appeal can be made to logic.
The calculations offer a grime visage.

Play with your heart, play with your gut,
As your head will steer you wrong.
If you're thinking about it,
You're thinking too much.
Just lay it on the line,
Bet it all,
But don't bet too much.
Listen, it'll be fine.
Tomorrow we can
Recoup your loss.

The contradictions are lost,
The irony was over
And you took the under.
The spread accomplished
Chose the given
And you were taking.
If something flew
You were beneath it.
Nathan Lippmann Sep 2024
She wanders the lost streets of her city
She was looking for the shining lights of Las Vegas
But this streets here a gritty
The City that is for its casinos famous

She went through hell
Just to visit Las Vegas and its lights
She loved the city's spell
The sound of the slot machines in the nights

And at next morning she tells with a fragile voice
I was in Las Vegas, the city of lights, yes I was there
I was at the place of my choice
She said she loved the flair

But actually she wanders through her lost youth
She wanders through a fake reality
But she didn't wanted to know the truth
She lived her live in duality

But the day came, where she didn't came back from her trip
She had never luck at the slot machines in Las Vegas
In her hand her last chip
To everyone she was nobody, to us she was famous
Kyle Kulseth Sep 2024
Hold on
Admissions...
The night and swelling sidewalks
Call to me.

Folding.
Submission.
Those blinking lights, a quickly
soothing need

Blue-white.
the walk signs,
I'm running past the end of
random chance

     Do winners ever quit when
               they're ahead?

Too many of these casino nights.
I never let them end, because I
     swear that Lucky Lil has eyes for me.

So I'll take my chances.
One more dance with these snakebite
     pints 'til I
can roll these X'd out lids
     over these swollen snake eyes.

Deuces.
I'm losing.
These sights and sounds made fuzzy,
buzzing slack.

Jackpot.
They have me.
I'm out of moves and fading
quick to black.

Odds are
I'm ending
the night wand'ring the sidewalks
with old dreams.

     Cuz losers never quit when
               they're ahead.

Too many of these casino nights
I never let them end because I
     swear that Lucky Lil has eyes for me.

But she's rolling shoulder,
rolling pupils and shooting
     weighted dice.
So roll my body out, over
     the curb, to midnight.

     Because I can never quit
               when I'm ahead.
TLA reference. I'm back baby.
Thomas W Case Aug 2023
I sleep with my glasses,
so, I can see in my dreams
the moment you left me,
it's all part of the scene.
So, the jockeys, they need me.
I know they will bleed me.
And it's 2 dollars on the
6 horse to show.

The buzzards and seagulls,
they know what you've done.
You said, come on boy,
let's go have some fun.
But that look in your eyes
was full of goodbyes
and now, I'm all but done.
I'm full of regrets
but, it's just one more bet.
And it's 2 dollars on the
6 horse to show.

The clowns and the hookers
got nothing for me.
They took all my money,
oh boy can't you see?
There's just one more bet,
and I'm full of regrets.
and it's 2 dollars on the
6 horse to show.

Bukowski and Hopper
look down on me smiling.
They've been out to sea.
They've been past the islands.
I'm tired of running
and I'm tired of standing still.
Another pill won't do it
and it's time for me to go.
And it's 2 dollars on the
6 horse to show.

You took all my money
on a day that was sunny
and you know them old clowns,
they really aren't funny.
So, I head to the track
to win it all back,
and it's 2 dollars on the
6 horse to show.
I wrote a song about regret and hope.
I'm happy to announce the release of my newest limited edition book, Rise Up Collected Poems and Short Stories. Here's a link.
https://booksie.chainletter.io/i/thomaswcase888
There exist two-sided planes of loss and gain
That exists both as a way of life and as a versatile toy
Bringing forth to a person either happiness or pain
It can hold our desires and was made for us to enjoy

You can cut it in the center, many in the world do
Stack it from one another and anything you decided to
It was created to flourish and be pleasing to the eye
It is a wonder with a cacophony of colors dyed

It is made for us, that which in the rules abide
And like good and evil, it has two sides
It is a friend of magic and a friend of trickery
Both is to deceive, one for joy and one for tragedy

Often, it has a bad reputation in the eyes of many
A tool for treachery and a miserable man’s destiny
But I tell you, it is the one that holds that give its voice
For it is an instrument that can either play a hymn or a noise
created 04/04/2022
revised 07/25/2023
pilgrims Sep 2022
When I say "bet"
life begins. I wager sweat and limbs.
The thrill is angelic hymns.
Limitless~

Until a hit is missed.
Why
do I fear
love is duplicitous
?

Courage
Will
Form
energy from unfolding mystery.
Cradling a chalice of compassion
with gentle filigree
my hands hold perfectly.
Feeling trust, I sip then pour peacefully.

Worth is free.
Travis Dixon Mar 2022
psst, bet on the game
bet on the game
big bet, big win
come on, bet on the game
(got a problem with
betting on games?)
hey, bet on the game!
hurry up, bet on the game
you know you can
bet on the game
(if you have a problem
with betting on games—)
get in here, we're
betting on the game
betting on the game
(call this number
in case you're having
trouble) it's almost
over, bet on the game
bet on the game
the odds are good
just bet on the game
(we support you)
you can bet on it
Khoisan Nov 2021
Though the flight
is
fleeting
it
goes down in slow motion
the
glitz of the flip
coincide with delusions of grandeur
in
retrospect it was oh so money
the
coin
landed on the flip-side
and
left most hanging out
in
anger.
Thomas W Case Aug 2021
To get back
in the game,
I need one
good hit.
A horse with
early lick;
that has more
heart than
Joe Louis
and Jake
LaMotta
combined.
I need decent odds,
at least 8-1.
The racing
gods have to
smile on me
one more time.
At least for
6 furlongs,
and then baby,
I'm back in the
game.
I've gone walking
In the midst
Of memories
And I lost myself

There's so much
To go through
Smiles, phrases, faces
Moments, people, places...

I've gone walking
Redeemed and tuned
There is nothing that we can do
Caged we pay the price,
And feel the spin of the dice
Tumbling in our own shoot.
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