The spring playground
muddy as a main street
from the forgotten
Klondike Gold Rush days
Peopled with forty little
“dangerous” Dan McGrews
hell-bent, big-time
wannabe-gamblers, all—
Cow-licked hustlers
rubes in little suspenders
beneath mothball-fresh
spring jackets
Some pirouetting spastically
on the heels of their galoshes
gouging casino craters
out of the wet spring gravel
Each with his pinchable
poke of precious nuggets:
cats'-eyes and clearies
and double-centers
Aggies… swirls…
steelies and moonstones…
most bragging manfully
of past conquests
And bankrupted foes…
speculating on
jackpot futures
of marble millions—
First a little game of "funsies"
to draw in the crowd
and then “keepsies” to
separate the men from the boys
And the boys from the marbles…
And there’s a sucker born every minute!
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