Alive In The Spirit

2 Comments

Alive In The Spirit

Alive In the Spirit


They inch onward, slowly into an amber stream of hope
through curative waters which have taken up  the mantle
of restorer/redemptor. These are life worn soldiers
of misfortune - the wounded, the disenchanted, the spent,
the damaged. Each have embraced life’s “WHAT IF”and
in their pain, with child-like abandon garner a sense of joy
with melodies tired ears alone can hear.

A masked woman, pale and gaunt, comes into view.
Right behind her a friend wields a small dolly, upon
which the slender oxygen tank is clamped.
    Like some deep water diver, she determinately
pierces an otherwise hostile environment with relative
safety. A pear-shaped man with a distinctive limp makes
light of his impediment as he pulls ahead of a wildly grey
haired woman with duel walking canes.
    By the busload they converge upon the arena
of light. Even in the lobby the music of the faithful permeates
the night. Elevated hopes speak of a belief, that to receive a touch
from the hand of fate could mean freedom which they’d never
known. Uniformed attendants wearing badges offer their help
to those finding their way into the random seating arrangement.
A joyful dance of light and sound pulses within the each molecule
of the air breathed. Each heart and mind focuses straight ahead
... watching ... waiting.

The cacophony of melodic yet collectively dissonant rhythms
continues, but now this one focal point has the attention of all
those around him. Quadruple double diamonds on a third run
sends the machine into a frenzy as the jackpot of the night
continues inventing new sounds to represent the rolling accumulation
of his winnings. This bespeckled, unshaven, diminutive looking man
in the dark grey blazer is no stranger. He’s won before but had never
quite found the salvation he’d been looking for. Which might account
for the rather subdued, in fact ... ungrateful response.
He finds that he will now have to keep at the game a little longer.
It’s a clear cut case of ...
“less means more.”

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HarverTomsson commented on Alive In The Spirit

07-23-2009

And they area gamblers, all, the varied seekers of redemption, from paucity, from pain, or from poverty. Roll it one more time...

NevillePark

08/17/2009

Hi there Harver. My assertion would be ... there are many minds at work trying to support the claim that gambling is a fun "sport" including those who don't want to tear off plain brown wrapper and expose the spirit of greed painted on the front of it. It's true I see them - the sick and crippled folks living for the carrot to fall off the stick. Must be eighty five percent over 50 When a streak of luck comes along and the staff, whose job it is to protect the interest of the Casino, say- find somebody keeps winning on one particular machine. I overheard a floor forman give instructions to shut one down by fabricating some lame mechanical malfunction. It's a weekly routine to go up to my workplace by bus.( The courtesy Casino run goes up to around where I work.) I end up giving a five buck gratuity and dropping another five into a slot machine. Sometimes I even recoup my ride money.

Poetry is what is lost in translation.

Robert Frost (1875-1963) American Poet.

NevillePark’s Poems (38)

Title Comments
Title Comments
They played For Keeps Cuz Time Never Sleeps 3
FORGOTTEN SOLDIERS 2
Come by and Pick me Up Lord 5
RAINMAKER 13
Reflection 6
O Son of The Morning 12
Love Fish 6
THE ALLEY 3
UNREQUITED DEATH 6
Sudden Death 2
The Poet and The Sea 5
Dawn 4
The Journey 5
Rappin It Up 3
Poems in Love ~ Edited sayings of Mother Teresa 8
ON TIME 10
W- Five 9
Painter Eleven 3
Yellow Red and Grey 2
Nam 4
FAME 6
High Rollers 3
Gimmy The Beat 2
A KILLER PASSION 2
Here Fishy 4
Alive In The Spirit 2
Bitterness 3
88 in the Shade 3
ASLEEP 6
THE MINUTE MAN 1
BATS 0
The River 4
The Meaning of Easter 3
Selma 0
Hells Bells 5
Fields of Change 3
In A Yellow Sky 3
Love Is 17