Thursday, July 2, 2015

6845. PARIMUTUEL BETTING

PARIMUTUEL BETTING
They slovenly bring down the house, these men
with their pooled wagers and dirtied bets. Horses 
and all the rest  -  things which don't exist for the
use they are given. It is only man who lays odds
upon an action  - I don't think an animal would 
do that. We harm nothing, or we harm everything.
-
At my parents' house once, the house I grew up in, I
was standing in a doorway looking at a picture  -  a 
ship, an odd boat from World War II. Some sort of
battleship thing, with guns and a radar scan  -  all of
it took me in but I remained fairly unaffected. Why
do men float at sea to search and kill others?
-
When a nine-year old begins asking questions of that
nature, I think it's fair to say he's not 'getting with the
program'. No? Well that was me in a myopic dream.
I pooled everything together in my later years, betting it
would never come off, the lid would blow, the deal
would go sour. Yes, I was right, I see it now. This
ragged life is a minefield, Even on water, this 
battleship itself could never make it across.

No comments: