#casino
“oh, how they will all bet on morrows that strain rills after dark,
and yet the Game, unpitying, regains its lordly behest at dawn;
lean back and feel the turn of things, the chance, the risk, the almost...
ante!”
⋮
this mania!
when it wreathes,
the imperceptible of myself,
it drains through me, sedulously,
hands aquiver, sight fretful,
and the bath of wanting (and not, ergo),
spewing and fusing
inside the etna of my inlying.
you are, then, obedience itself,
long before the grapevine,
before the Cards;
rails tarnishing, yet begrimed steel,
rather ossein, or thew,
turning to a suttee so pale, it forgets its ills.
and the trains;
yes, they were gushing, though not afore;
“did you think they would arrive for you?”
they smelt into clag,
into a mist of faces, barren,
swelling and shrieking of throe,
snaking, snaking down the spine of
the Stake.
slaves betting with their ilk of ardor,
when a match struck, belatedly,
but already it is leaning toward cinders,
its shine no more
than a laugh of people,
leaving the hall shivery in its bleat,
charcoals sighing their waning,
others honing their exit.
bitterly, bitterly, i am
left with nothing to hold but smoke.
but time, ah, time,
the nimble Host,
old trickster with his cuffs of lithe,
shuffling cloaks for loose change.
he and i,
always at the same table,
and i know his favorite sleight:
to grant the boastful player
a losing hand,
and winning eyes.
the coin is tossed,
to the Parlay; so soon cast,
so soon swallowed by the piker.
the crowd, they clap for a name,
but it is never genius they are crowning,
only luck,
foremost Dealer,
with that last word,
smiling as he lays it down:
only the blind Card turned upward.
~~~
and i,
sitting with my empty cup,
still growing a taste for losing
foolish, surely,
but the loss only deepens the greed,
doubles it, whets it past the reach of will.
so ring then, coin,
dull as you are, tattered,
clattering against the floorboards.
it tells me i am counted,
measured,
already spent.
yes, yes, it is only a caprice,
but it hews, it digs,
it laughs where no mouths are,
and i laugh back;
ante!
Sep 13, 2025
Sep 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM UTC
The casino owner,
Loved taking money from others.
Just set a million-dollar prize,
And everyone is surprised,
So they flock to the casino,
To ruin their lives.
Not that the owner cares,
Money in his pocket,
To pay for all his affairs.
All of the money,
Anyone could ever want,
So he spent it,
To expand the gambling.
More bills rolled in,
Which he used to pay the bills,
Of the growing establishment.
No amount of money,
Was ever enough,
And eventually,
The casino owner went bankrupt.
The people were tired of being lied to,
So they started a mob,
And robbed the casino.
They burned it to the ground,
No more money to be found.
May 29, 2025
May 29, 2025 at 5:57 PM UTC
Meal's on you, ace.
Meals of you, ace.
As just but a deck of cards
Among tables of strung-out gamblers;
What's blackjack to a game of craps?
Suppose it's a matter
Of the rules of the sitting chaps,
Though I've never seen drunks wetter.
It's innumerable cards of the same face,
For each is but another portrait of indifference.
It's innumerable dealers of the same things,
For each is closer in similarity than farther in dissension.
To love to play
Is not the same as a play of love.
Yet, to make life a game
Is not the same as the "game" of life itself.
Apr 16, 2025
Apr 16, 2025 at 12:00 AM UTC
She got dealt a bad hand in life.
But she didn’t fold.
She kept playing.
She didn’t walk away from the table,
And leave the casino like she should have.
She keeps playing the hand life dealt her.
And she’s slowly going into debt.
Deeper in the game until one day she won’t be able to play anymore.
She’ll be out of money.
Out of cards.
I just pray it doesn’t come to that.
I want her to fold.
Leave the table.
Leave that lifestyle behind her.
Count her losses and move on with her life.
There’s more to life than that hand that life dealt her.
I just wish she could sober up long enough to see it.
I just wish she could see that there’s so much more to life than the hand that she was dealt.
Sep 5, 2020
Sep 5, 2020 at 12:16 PM UTC
Profusely thanking their gods and goddesses
when striking it big
Slinking silently from the table
when losing it all
But ever faithful to their capricious gods
Never ever seeing the ever seeing eye
Or the hidden algorithms
Calculated to lure you again and again
To play and pay for the thrills
That by Chance you're the gods' favoured one.
Aug 15, 2019
Aug 15, 2019 at 10:02 AM UTC
Life may have dealt a bad hand
Don't forget you can make a stand
Mar 10, 2019
Mar 10, 2019 at 1:51 AM UTC
The doctors gave me a pill not to feel
You place hands on me to heal
I try not to make this a big deal
I try not to make this a big deal
I'm trying not to deal
But I live in a casino
and the currency
is my sanity
I deal in sin
I deal in skin
Please don't take your hand away
I want to cash out
I want to let go of all of this
and tear up the deed
I want to sell everything
I want to go out of business
I want to wake up and whisper
Here once stood Casino Depression
Mar 22, 2018
Mar 22, 2018 at 5:44 PM UTC
Comedy or tragedy?
It’s the entertainment of death
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry
You’ll live, you’ll die
Either way, who is to say?
Either way, bet on your guess
Four points on a circle
Spin the wheel
It won’t feel real
It will get you sick
So, take your pick
Fortune is yours to make
It is yours to take
Life is a casino
You’re playing poker
Like they do in Texas
Hold ‘em, fold ‘em,
Hit ‘em, bid on ‘em,
Play pentacles
Then the cards with cups
But someone just yelled ********
And the guy across from you
Just bet all on blue
Time to go round two
**** the dealer
Dance with the Devil
Kiss coincidence
Flirt with fate
Lady Luck might notice you yet
Red or black
Get something back
Double or nothing
Best your blessings
Cut your wins
And count your losses
Until the final game
Comes down to good luck,
Bad luck,
Or something beyond control
Bet on black to start
Then go straight for the heart
Feb 8, 2018
Feb 8, 2018 at 5:12 PM UTC
Love was a casino
I continuously kept putting in
Hoping I would get a jackpot
Nov 30, 2017
Nov 30, 2017 at 3:40 AM UTC
Everyone wants to win money at a Casino
But they're really losing more than they gain
Some people can never afford to lose
But yet some of them still go
I don't understand
But I guess its not in my jurisdiction to
Apr 24, 2016
Apr 24, 2016 at 4:19 PM UTC
There's holes in all my pockets
No more money do they hold
My hands can't go much deeper
Trying to shield them from the cold
I've got 'bout fifteen dollars
Rolled and stuffed inside my boot
Got it from a pawn shop
Where I went and sold my suit
The road to where I'm going
Is one I've never been before
I've gambled all I own away
I'm looking for a score
All my life's possessions
Are scattered cross the land
In pawn shops and casinos
In the mountains and the sand
I gambled with the devil
Didn't win, had no chance
Now, I'm hitching it to nowhere
With empty pockets in my pants
A dealer with a lucky streak
And me on my last legs
Now, I'm one step up from dying
I'm now one of the worlds dregs
The money in my left boot
Won't last long when I hit town
I'll find the first casino
And my sorrows I will drown
Be it on the tables
Or at the bar telling my tale
It won't last long no matter
But my soul still ain't for sale
I gambled with the devil
Didn't have a chance at all
It's amazing that the distance
That there is for one to fall
It didn't take a decade
And it didn't take a year
But, I'm one step from the bottom
Aching hard for my next beer
I'm hitching it to nowhere
But, I'll know when I arrive
Don't know how long I'll stay there
Or how long I will survive
I've got holes in all my pockets
All I own is on my back
I gambled with the devil
He took red, and I took black.
Sep 9, 2013
Sep 9, 2013 at 11:04 AM UTC
Trick or treat
Hide and seek
Ring around the rosie
Battleship
Candy Land
Trivial Pursuit 2
Basketball
Truth or Dare
Multilevel Beer Pong
Strip Poker
Slot Machine
Russian Roulette Gun Play
As We Age
Bolder Games
Someone upped the ante
Jun 15, 2015
Jun 15, 2015 at 4:45 AM UTC
You've stacked the deck in your favor,
but if even one card shifts
the entire house comes crashing down.
Hitting as the dealer holds
you've folded, revealing your hand.
What a Joker you've become!
The bluff has fallen on deaf ears.
Jun 7, 2015
Jun 7, 2015 at 5:00 AM UTC
*Time to hand the deck back
Before Alice in Wonderland
Becomes Malice in Blunderland
The looking glass cracks
And there's no passage back.*
Sat at Life's table
Night after Night goes aRound
And you're Unable to leave.
Coulda drawn the Ace
But got sidetracked by the Joker
With your Inability
to pass up possibility
And it Leaves you looking in the mirror
At this fool that you see
The fool that you are
As you fall so easily
For this game
Who's only aim
Is to breed
losers to please
Those who have already won
With ease
Been Established for centuries
And now you're indebted
to this Society.
It Leaves you
Staring At the innocent face
You strive to disgrace
Even though it hurts you
And The sincerity
aids in your
Despair at he
That puts Gold before Good
Though it makes sense
Alphabetically
He who wages happiness
On the back of money
Will eventually sight
Looking glass Or not
That the price is not right.
Apr 5, 2015
Apr 5, 2015 at 5:11 PM UTC
This man; His heart was close to frozen
And forever ached for time to thaw it.
He had worked on his warmth-wont wall
So that no one could ever hurt him.
His hands held the kinds of worried warmth
Known to men who were short on time,
As if life was merely granted, not given
And could be taken at proper sign.
So he slowly started to lose himself
In the wild winters of an improper world,
Growing numb to others troubles,
But then he met the girl -
And she beautifully betrayed him,
So his walls were brought back in force.
To never again let the sunlight in,
To never let emotion beget remorse.
May 18, 2014
May 18, 2014 at 8:41 PM UTC
My Mom took me to the casino to gamble with her money.
Played video poker and roulette, and very well could have
just lit $80 on fire.
The casino was my Vietnam.
We sit down and order sodas from a machine
called "Fairies of the Forest".
No intention or idea how to play it.
Put in $20.
Press a couple buttons.
Won $140.
I think the laws of physics break down
under that ceiling.
Like Alice in Wonderland on acid...
or would it be more acid?
May 1, 2014
May 1, 2014 at 3:02 PM UTC