Gamble Responsibly

I have a confession to make. Last night I went to the Dicky Beach Surf Club by myself. I also gambled responsibly, losing $15 on the pokies, before winning it back with an each way bet on a horse called "Nights of Thunder", then got cocky and bombed out on a trifecta and a greyhound that came dead last. Overall I came through negative $13, which is good/bad luck depending how you look at it.

After losing on the pokies I penned this poem on a Keno ticket (text below).

How readily I fed $15 into that cold, uncaring poker machine.

Watched my sum total teeter totter in a choreographed display, 

designed to make me think that I had a hope (while oh so quietly tying the rope).

Now I take this Keno pencil and try to write - to find meaning in the spaces between the numbered boxes.

While in the lounge adjacent carnival music fanfare heralds the smallest of victories.