Lee-Ann captivated an appreciative audience with a selection of classical arias while I read two sets of poems, taken mainly from my Stone Witness collection, and later signed copies in the shop at Candie Museum.
I'm happy to report that Stone Witness continues to sell extremely well, both online and through a number of local outlets.
One of the poems that I read was the ever-popular Requiem for a Gambler, which you can find below.
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| Photo by Jane Mosse |
REQUIEM FOR A GAMBLER
All that you owned when at your peak,
with business buzzing like a hive,
was squandered on a losing streak
while, hopelessly, hope stayed alive.
No game of chance could you forgo:
you’d kiss the dice for one more throw.
Slow horses, greyhounds half asleep,
the Poker games you always lost,
the endless nights you got in deep
with fools who didn’t count the cost,
the roulette wheel’s capricious spin,
those gambles you could never win
left you like this: a rented room,
two threadbare suits, grease-stained and creased,
a stack of bills that I assume
no one will pay since you’re deceased.
You always were an optimist.
Where are they now, those dice you kissed?
Gambling can be such an awful affliction and for me you've certainly captured its aftermath in your poem.
ReplyDeleteSadly, yes, Julian, and when the fallout from unsuccessful gambling is experienced at first remove, as it is in the case of the gambler's family and loved ones, it can be particularly harrowing.
ReplyDelete