The Devil's Game

[Sampson]

the swift flick of a nicotine stained
fingertip sent the chip spinning
suspended momentarily in a shaft of
moonlight streaming through the solitary
high window and the players were poised
their poker faces frozen over the flesh
below and the cold which enfolded the
old green baise table was palpable...

the devil happily took the roll of dealer
and everyone figured that the devil was
naturally a cheater so evened their odds
accordingly but the devil was playing them
all for fools, you see, he knew how they
would react so in fact it was favourable
to leave the deck unstacked so the devil
dealt with his honour for once in tact

there were four royal families at war
in the pack the king and jack of hearts
launched the first attack in a betting battle
that went on long into the night
face up on the table was the devil's favourite
card the ace of spades drawn against the tribe
of bleeding hearts calling war from the
fortress of chips which they guarded

the devil played an honest game that evening
even when big jack and little jim upped the ante
and started cheating him he continued playing
the cards he was dealt and knew he didn't seem
like his old wicked self to the rest of the players
and they were phased by his astonishing lack
or straight flushes and dubious five-of-a-kinds
the devil played cards with their money
but that night
he really just wanted to **** with their minds

[Hawkman]

This is really clever Sampson there is some great wit here and I love it. Well done!

H

[Bar22do]

Very good, Samp, and what a skillful card player the devil is, always the winner...
Enjoyed a lot while reading also between the lines! Bar.

[RaoulDuke]

I love the opening verse; it paints a vivid picture of a sleazy poker den and sets the scene brilliantly.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I too was intrigued by the whole of this and as a former, avid but none too skillful poker player, I schemed at what I might do to outsmart an honest devil! Interesting conundrum. Reminded me of that line from the end of "The Usual Suspects" where Keyser Soce (sp?) says something like "The devil never played a better trick than when he convinced us he doesn't exist!"

[Sampson]

cheers guys... poker is a wonderful subject for poetry, don't you all think? people always have a lot of the imagery in their heads, so it allows a poet to play on that instead of focusing on the build up of a scenario, I reckon...