Pulp Poem of the Week

You could feel the excitement of it.

And that's why they came,

to get some of that excitement,

to take the ante, big or little,

and pitch it against the house,

to double it, triple it, multiply it

a thousand times if they could.

It was sticky and hot and grim

in Sacramento.

It was crowded and stifling

in Chinatown,

lonely for the oldster

in the Mission

routine and empty for the widow

in the Portola.

But the lights were on

in Reno.

James McKimmey

Winner Take All

1959