Fate Is Not In The Cards

[Pendragon]

Fate Is Not In The Cards

It’s called “Three Card Monte” properly,
though some who perpetrate the lightning scam
of late have begun to call it “Find the Lady.”

Usually there are the two black aces,
and, depending on which tale the card sharp uses,
the Queen of Diamonds or the Queen of Hearts.

He will tell you that it is a simple game that anyone might win,
you have but to keep a sharp eye out for tracking the lady
as he rapidly spins the three cards around on his small table.

While you hesitate about your chances of winning anything,
a poorly dressed man pushes by you and waves a hundred,
jabbing his none-too-clean finger down on a card. “Thet’s ‘er!”

And it most certainly is the Queen. The man grins waving two hundreds.
The card sharp has the cards up and asks if you want in this round.
That’s when you notice a slight bend on the right corner of the Queen.

You check your wallet and find you have a thousand dollars even.
But you’re not greedy. In for three hundred dollars is plenty
The cards go round and round but you only have eyes for a bent right corner.

The man looks up and you touch the card with confidence.
“Sorry, stranger, but this is the lady over here in the middle. You lose!”
What you didn’t know was the unclean bum was what they refer to as a “shill.”

Nor did you catch the dealer straighten that queen corner and bend that ace one.
"Slight of hand", boy. That's what they call that little trick...
I never play these types of card games for a real good reason:


I flipped a card once at a fortune-teller’s booth. Just one off her tarot deck.
I knew right then that my luck wasn’t ever gonna be in the cards at all.
The card was a number 0. In case you never seen a Tarot deck, that card is The Fool…

Pendragon
©1/29/08

[PrinceMyshkin]

Lovely vignette - and as a gambling fool myself* I had my eye out for the bent card scam.

*Thirteen years of my happiest Friday nights were the ones in Vancouver when with more or less the same four other guys and the occasional woman, I'd play poker from something like 9 or 10 pm until 3 am the following morning. I relished the game, relished it, even though I was far from the best at the table. It was dealer's choice so we played all the regular games, stud, low-ball, Texas hold 'em, kings & little ones, as well as one or two of our own devising, "anaconda" and "Molotov Cocktail."

Those were the days, my friend,
We thought they'd never end...

[jon1jt]

I can see this one read in a movie---I'm thinking Matt Damon and Ed Norton's Rounders film that was made in the late 1990s or so about two ex-con poker players.

I don't understand, you mention "shill,' what is that?

I love how you changed gears the last three lines with the Tarot cards, very cool, witty all around--



I flipped a card once at a fortune-teller’s booth. Just one off her tarot deck.
I knew right then that my luck wasn’t ever gonna be in the cards at all.
The card was a number 0. In case you never seen a Tarot deck, that card is The Fool…

[Pendragon]

I can see this one read in a movie---I'm thinking Matt Damon and Ed Norton's Rounders film that was made in the late 1990s or so about two ex-con poker players.

I don't understand, you mention "shill,' what is that?

I love how you changed gears the last three lines with the Tarot cards, very cool, witty all around--A "shill" is a person who works with the card dealer. He is alllowed to win to show people it is possible. But he is in on the game and will be paid out of the "take" at the end of the day. He is usually a master of disguise and a quick change artist, with reversible jackets and props hidden in a place around a corner. He wins, vanishes around the corner and returns as someone else for the next trick. By the way, if you should you pick the right card, the car sharp and "shill" will start an arguement long enough for him to switch cards. It's a no-win situation.

[AuntShecky]

I liked this piece, and my only objection is the line arrangement. It is telling the story about the Three Card Monte game, but it needs an injection of rhythm. How about arranging the lines in little tercets?

I mean, like yours truly is as insightful as Donald Hall or somebody. So take my suggestion w. a grain of salt ( which has been passed around in a quite interesting way in a previous posts.)

[Pendragon]

What you think, Aunty? Had to add one line...

[ampoule]

Oooo, I liked that ending. Very good.