Casino

One to five bets per line. Bet all

nine lines. Twenty dollars swells

to two thousand credits the minute

we trade the hot afternoon

for air conditioning, high ceilings

strung with tiny lights, screens

of seven hundred slot machines

blinking almost randomly. Strangers

lean over each other’s shoulders

to see what’s paying. Hours pass

before we give our tickets to the cashier

who sweeps both hands, palms flat

across her counter, a gesture

for the end of a magic trick.