LPiA-25 Nov. 3

[Tiger the Lion]

Let's Pretend it's April - Nov. 3

Rules: Write a poem for LPiA on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a New Reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month, have written 30 poems for the month of November. (or one, or six, or fifteen) Prompts may be revisited at any time. All members are welcome.

Topic : Write a poem inspired by a lottery or lottery ticket. 
Form : Any
Line requirements: 8 or more

Feel free to reply with comments or kudos as you wish. 

Questions?

[dukealien]

Chances


In La Paz they used to say
on any given sporting day
among the idlers who would play
a poor man has three chances:

One chance is the Second Coming;
next, a change of government.
Lastly, and to get big money
he could win the Lottery.

Of the three, a coup’s most likely
with a half-life of eight months;
Jesus’ winding up the heavens
beats the ticket you just bought.

[Todd]

What Survives

I don't think anyone was lucky,
not those who lived,
but maybe those who died.

There is a weight to survival,
heavier than the snow
that covered them.

Don’t tell me what you would have done.
The ground was too hard to dig,
and the damned weather provided a shroud.

No one prayed then or since. It would have
been a blasphemy of grace.

Eventually, they were forgotten
like so many missed meals.

But hunger always remembers
where to dig.I 

[Quixilated]

Only One in Every Infinity

Happenstance acquaintance by random assignment
A twenty-year friendship, two hearts in alignment
On week one, we danced in a puddle in the rain
now we talk about books, family, writing, and pain

One thousand miles is not all that distant
when friends share one journal (and if one is persistent)
I pity all people who don't have this connection
who don't have a you when their book needs dissection.





---------
In a hurry, might add more later. A bit too rhyming for me, but it's fun to try new things. Got to go edit a paper for the above mentioned friend. Over and out.

[CRNDLSM]

The only thing more abused
Than scripture is statistics 
The number of studies used
Manipulated to fix
Agendas masses confused
By percentages and quick
Step fast talking stand accused
Of your vile connivery and devious tricks

[Weeded]

To Death and Taxes

tattered floating in the gutter
pretender of hope and granted wishes
scratched to damn near nothing
worthless at this juncture
perhaps baphomet could find a bettor
to sell a soul american dream
feathered clutches in stone washed denim
plastered on marble

novaya volna

[dukealien]

The only thing more abused
Than scripture is statistics 
The number of studies used
Manipulated to fix
Agendas masses confused
By percentages and quick
Step fast talking stand accused
Of your vile connivery and devious tricks

Excellent observation!

[Keith]

Thanks a lot Terry

Your date of birth
our first house number
the children's date of birth,
number of letters in the dogs name,
going to the corner shop once a week
in my slippers, thousands of scratch cards
one 10 pound win.
That week we could have won another 10 pound
but I was ill.
all the conversations about
what we would do with the money.
The constant nag of buying a way
out of my shitty life.
35 years of false dreams
£3500 on another poor mans Tax

[RiverNotch]

He won the lottery in Rome.
Two hundred thousand Euro for
quadruple the amount in debt,
the bulk to his not-quite-estranged
half-brother.

No wonder that he disappeared
soon after hiring those two goons
that every winner needs the most
to hire, a seasoned advocate
and a true accountant.

[busker]

Winning the lottery 

Everyone who's ever lived won a lottery,
even those afflicted with scabies,
even Edgar Allan Poe, dead of rabies,
even Hypatia, killed by pottery -

all of them were lucky. Every plague victim,
and those that were killed in both wars,
even William the Conqueror, whose pommel nicked him,
and Laika, amongst the stars.

All of them were born, an improbable feat
amongst trillions of possibilities.
From stardust to amino acids, molecules to meat,
trilobite to office worker always ill at ease -

rejoice, for you're lucky, improbably lucky,
down your gimlet with a twist of lime.

Death's inevitable, decomposition yucky,
but toast your forebears fortunate and plucky
that you've lived through this slice of time.

[Weeded]

Winning the lottery 

Everyone who's ever lived won a lottery,
even those afflicted with scabies,
even Edgar Allan Poe, dead of rabies,
even Hypatia, killed by pottery -

all of them were lucky. Every plague victim,
and those that were killed in both wars,
even William the Conqueror, whose pommel nicked him,
and Laika, amongst the stars.

All of them were born, an improbable feat
amongst trillions of possibilities.
From stardust to amino acids, molecules to meat,
trilobite to officer worker always ill at ease -

rejoice, for you're lucky, improbably lucky,
down your gimlet with a twist of lime.

Death's inevitable, decomposition yucky,
but toast forebears fortunate and plucky
that you've lived through this slice of time.

I think i needed to read this. Thanks busker.

[rowens]

Voiding

Nervous system holds the spines
of all
my books,
calendars, almanacs,

tickets to ride and buy,
O her songs,
the one whose name I've written,
hand to hand, over the grocery counter,
ungirdling serpent,
on the almanac of us:
A Siren Country.

Chance and choice are similar.
Lust and love are the same.

[MidaPoems]

Calculating from scratch

Calculating I might win,
To end where I begin.

Fathomably low,
I scratch away.
For the numbers to portray --
What I need.
All correct

Except the last,
The rush wasn't meant -
To last.

A small price to pay,
in the game,
the game of luck.