Casino Life

Shaun Hoyt

The cigarette fog makes this world a hallucination

Sounds of electronic bells ring through the air

Smells of alcohol strong on their breath

They drink to forget they were forgotten

They talk to forget they’re alone

Confident in my world of no ambition

I walk through the oceans of lost souls

The smell of their seat seeps into my clothes

I react to their suffering with distant attachment

I pretend to pretend to care

They move and swear with brutal grace

I walk through them and past them

Feeling their anger

Feeling their sorrow and joy and love and hatred

A hundred different cultures trapped in this one

There is no honor in this place of sin

I want to leave but have no desire

We are here because we have always been

Trapped in a pool of contentment

All are lost who enter here.