• (preface) . Ante Up •
Never Gamble with more
than you can afford to lose
• Prologue : The Deal •
From the dusty haze
between mirage waves
of shimmering heat
in the desert air
refracting red shifted rays
of the horizonal sun
bouncing off the highway
appears an indigent itinerant,
who’s seen better days,
walking alone
at a leisurely pace
west towards sunset
and night and escape
without baggage or burden
beyond his distempered ways.
He comes suddenly upon an unexpected place- hitherto unseen by light of day:
• I: The Flop •
"LIQUOR IN THE FRONT!
$ POKER IN THE BACK $"
...The flashing neon sign proclaims
From behind the dingy pane
Of a curtained window
By a door to nowhere safe;
With a sign that hangs
Underneath it saying-
"Open Buy, Table Stakes,
No Limit Hold’em
Come on in and Play!"
-And just beneath that,
Scratched into the widow,
(In an unsettling scrawl)
{By a steady hand}
[with a razor sharp blade…]
It says
“There’s NO LIMIT to WHAT you can WIN”
...
"That does sound tempting"
So you do go in.
Everytime…
And you’re greeted with a “Hello friend!”
By a bartender standing by himself,
in an empty room,
Cuffs rolled up and forearms wet
polishing glassware and tins with a towel;
One That’s seen too many rims
and broken glasses and spilled drinks,
and blood and tears and ***** sinks
It could NOT be clean,
but “**** it,” you think,
"How bad could it be?"
Might be why Ain’t nobody in here...
But never-you-mind, 'cause the ***** is cheap…
“Can I get you something, bub?
I got some real-deal-hillbilly-moonshine,"
He says with a grin.
"Just come in; straight from Kentucky, with a fine batch of single-barrel bourbon, too.
Let's see, What else? ... Some Cuban ***,
French vermouth;
Cognac, Port, Brandy...
Shoot!
I got a bottle of Chicago's finest!
Authentic bathtub gin - from the secret stash,
no less,
of Al Capone's best lady-friend.
Might even have a little tequila still sloshing around the jug.
We got some stuff,
but the pickings are getting slim.
... Also champagne
if that's your thing.
Milwaukee beer in a can."
"By the way, just so you know
There's a cash game going,
but it already began;
You can head back, if you want…
They've probably only played one hand.”
At that, he motions to a vinyl-padded door
lit green, with a red light glow
spilling across the floor below,
ominously from under the jamb.
“Should I get a drink
and play a few?” You think,
“I don’t have much to lose.
And what if
I win?”
• II.. The Turn •
It’s a gamble, going all in
It’s a big risk to take,
But if it pays off man
*******,
You got it made
And the hand looks good,
(it always does)
But this fella’s poker face…
It's uncanny, and
You cannot read a thing.
It’s like he’s made of stone
Not a single tell; not any kinda way…
And this ******* devil-man
Always calls.
He plays his hand in every game;
Never sits out a round.
Throws his money down,
Takes his cards,
Folds his hands,
Then he just
... Sits back …
… And he waits …
… And every hand he plays,
It seems the game is strange,
In some unexpected way -
like cards you thought you had
aren't the same when you look again
But you can’t remember if, or when, it changed.
It might’ve been
you just seen 'em wrong,
But either way,
the card you need is gone;
And just when you notice-
He’ll look away,
And then back at you,
As if to say,
“I call your bluff kid, turn em up.
Let’s see this hand you played.
What’re you holding
That Made you think
you could win a game
I ******* made.”
• .IİI. The River •
You’re playing too fast and loose …
Like you ain’t afraid
But you should be …
‘Cause You ****** up
Too Bad the Bet’s Been Made
• IV.:. The Showdown •
...And then He wins;
And when He wins
you can’t defend the hand you held
In any way.
He takes his chips and stacks em up.
He doesn’t have anything else to say.
He doesn’t gloat; he just
… ******* smiles…
And He watches your face:
As you sit and you stare
and you think good and hard
about the mistake that you just made.
Read ‘em and weep - It’s his favorite part.
It’s his little art:
Watching a soul
get crushed…
"…Ugh…"
“…Again!?!”
• Epilogue - Wanna Buy Back In? •
Never
Pay More To Play
Than What You Stand To Win
Never pay more to play than what you stand to gain.
I’m very fond of this one, but every time I read it again I feel it’s missing some little bit - just what it is I can’t put my finger on, but it seems like there’s still some part of it out there in the ether.
Does the jump to the endgame seem
Too jarring?
That’s actually where the poem
Originally began. The first draft was just the preface, part “II..” and the epilogue (though obviously worded a bit differently, and unmarred by formalist pedantry). It felt a bit too heavy handed as parable of a gamble with the devil (indeed it was written as such), and After a revision or two for color and rhyme and rhythm, I added part “I:” - which made it feel much more like a story to me, and less like a cliché (at least in my mind) - I guess it’s still a bit cliched if I’m being honest. I wanted a “smash-cut;” that felt almost cinematic. Like a short film, with a small budget trying to get enough story in without wasting time on dealing cards round and round. But it’s that cinematic bent that makes me think it’s missing a 3rd act.
Does “II..” perhaps need to be broken up? It seems like a natural break sits at “you’re playing too fast and loose.” (also, out of curiosity, who do you think that line is attributed too?)
I tried a format with a Numeral marker there but i couldn’t decide on an evolution I liked
For example, I tried:
I: , II.. , .III.
I. , II.. , III…
i.. , ii. , iii
. , : , . :
. , . . , . . .
Nothing seemed right for the third tier.
(A major revision later)
It was almost too obvious to title chapters after the games turns… anyway. A bit of additional self aware commentary added and now I think the piece is complete… 2/22/24 3:41 am
