Playing for Days
by Jon Bennett
I go to a casino
I want to write a novel
not the great American one
but something
I beseech fate
I ask the Devil
to flip through his Rolodex
and make me a winner
I win $3,000
enough to last a month
of 10 page days
On my first free day
I go to the bar
I have a pack of Export As
and some pain pills
I sharpen my pencils and
arrange everything neatly
on the beer damp counter
On day 2 I’m there again
trying to write
and I imagine
that casino again
reliving the win
as I lose
the days.