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Poetry Showcase [Historical Adventure Stories] Moderators for this section: Weaver, ochsterboxter, CadenzRime, Lingua Pura, ososment, carolynrn, Inker

The Dealer

Outline: Who knows . . . he may even be real? Published here last August, and re-published today due to this so-called 'Credit Crunch' fiasco-disaster. Click the speaker icon to hear what I think of unregulated Bankers and Speculators - music by Paul Oomen.
Review: Any comment welcome.
The Dealer

The Great Depression didn't bring him down.
He simply left his New York town
to the tragic ones who jumped.

Hopped a boxcar at Albany
and forgot his lost millions.

Opened the door at midnight
passing through Schenectady
and saw stars in their billions
unseen before in the bright
glare of the Dealing floor.

Westward bound
or was it South?

He didn't know
he didn't care.

He just stared at the sky
didn't ask why
and wondered
about his future.

The first year he saw it all
Dust-bowl dirt with clothes in rags
and rag-tag army of dispossessed
bereft - left to hunger
in queues with little soup.

Half the weight he used to be
fat cat was long dead
yet shedding all those pounds
had made him live and, agile now,
a passing boxcar sprint
was easy meat

and calluses on soles
of once-pampered feet
stepped on ground
through holes in boots.

Wheeling, dealing, sometimes stealing
anything to get some food
to brighten mood.

By second year he'd sussed it out
from dives in the likes of Boisie Idaho
and picking fruit for a dollar a day
way over in Orange County California
where the sun always shines until it rains
in rivers flowing.

There he heard a tale from folk

so hitched on through Death Valley,
to a dream not yet unfurled,
to Oasis Town of black renown
where betting was illegal
then

played a hand of cards with sharks
in deep-dark room
and in the gloom won handsomely

and got the bug back.

Bought a suit then bought some shares
in both Power and Water.
Saw a future bright and flowing
uninhibited by a law
and gambled more.

Won and won and on the run
from prying FBI eyes
and, from gangsters in black Cadillacs
who wanted money back

he cut a deal

and stole a march on Time
for a while
to buy more shares
and every time a tap was turned,
or light switch thrown,
unbeknown to rivals and the IRS he grew
a little richer

so ditched the poker for higher stakes
thinking he'd made no mistakes.

But J. Edgar Hoover was now on to him
and all his dealing ways.
False names logged and accounts tagged
for scrutiny.

Undercover Agents
trusted in the Vegas heat when coolness
under fire was needed to keep a calm heart
marched side by side with the enemy
to split them all apart
in separate files linked.

Cocaine by the pound from unsound sources
coursed through the veins of Hollywood's finest streets
and lowest slums from West coast to the East
financed by a mob whose job it was to care for none
but their own.

The Dealer was in deep and knew
yet still he didn't stop
and to top it all his best friend was a Fed,
Ed, who kept him safe or so he thought.

And even bigger fish than him were caught.
Shelley
[Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:22 pm]
Oh, I do like a good tale - as you know! The only phrase that troubles me is
Quote:
in queues with little soup
- it's the 'little soup' bit. It sounds strange.
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MummyPenguin
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:58 am]
Hi Ron

You've really captured something here - I'm not sure whether hobo happiness is the right way to describe it but those are the words that came to mind.

Particularly taken with the imagery in
Quote:
way over in Orange County California
where the sun always shines until it rains
in rivers flowing
and

Quote:
played a hand of cards with sharks
in deep-dark room
and in the gloom won handsomely

and got the bug back.


Thanks for a really good story to start the day.
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maipenrai
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:56 am]
a very good piece mate.
bernie
_________________
I know that you have suffered lad
but suffer this a while
whatever makes a soldier cry
will make a killer smile

L. Cohen
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Ron
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:33 am]
Thanks, all,

Shelley,

I guess it's how you say the 'little soup' line that gives it its meaning, where you put the stresses etc depending on one's accent - I tried to stress it to 'there was very little soup'. Glad you enjoyed the tale. Cool

MP,

One always knows when one is on the right track if the words pass muster with you. I'm pleased you enjoyed it too. Wink

Bernie,

It's always a pleasure to take you to these places, mate. Cheers

Well . . . what a nice surprise to start my day.

Cheers, all. Very Happy
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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pamela
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 pm]
Ron, this was just wonderful. It held me enthralled throughout and managed to display great wisdom and human nature in the process. The imagery was magic and the whole thing flowed like the 'Colarado'.
I loved it, Pam Very Happy Very Happy
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Ron
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:59 pm]
Cheers, love, Very Happy

Yeah, 'human nature', hey - guess that guy was 'once a dealer always a dealer', hey. That struck me today when reading a remark on the Dock, and as I said there - guess he didn't actually learn that much from the 'folks' he'd met on his long journey to Vegas. Hmm . . .

Glad you liked this Wink and read your 'I like sitting here' over there today, and that long crit could get you 'post of the week' over there if you've read it right. Wink I loved your first take on it, here, and the expansion is Cool

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Ron
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:07 pm]
Have added more, and hope to add more on top of that. This could end up a long one. Laughing
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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pamela
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:38 pm]
Thank you for the prompt Ron, I had no idea that anyone had commented on 'I like sitting here', I'm THRILLED! I was waiting for an email.
I'm about to read your addition, thanks again, Pam
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pamela
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:41 pm]
It gets better and better Ron, as I knew it would, brilliant!
Pam Very Happy Very Happy
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Ron
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:59 pm]
Pam, make sure you tick the 'alert me when someone responds' box over there too - you'll find it by edditing your profile. Cheers. Smile
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Andmymare
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:51 pm]
Hey Ron,
You know you've really gotten into this so, I'm seeing its tone change as you fill out this character.
Just to start with one little question;
'preferred to jump'. I don't think that's the word for how they did it, even in a depiction, or, sketch such as you're doing. (As Pug said, bad good man or good bad man). 'Prefer' is, kind of light.

If you tell me to back off here, I'll demur, and think that you're leaning toward a rolling-along character song kind of thing.

Any thoughts?

like that this caught ahold of you so.
Lynda
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Ron
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:01 pm]
Lynda,

Yep, I'm hooked on this character and wanna make it an epic if I can and have him duckin n' divin like a Soprano who gets it in the end Laughing anti-hero if I can pull it off. Feel free, please please please, to say anything you damn well feel like as you gave me the inspiration to write like this by me just listnin t'ya speak, gal. Wink

Cheers
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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Andmymare
[Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:09 pm]
Oh unrestrain-ed one,
then please tell me, this 'preferring'. Imagine it. The vertigo, you're sunk, plundered, worthless, you can't even sweat, your, well pardon me but your balls are shrinking back up into your guts, when last night, you were dressing your daughter in pearls, heck, you were dressing her whippet in pearls. It isn't that they 'preferred' to jump.

C'mon and help me over this.

Okay so I'm bein' devil's advocate here. And by the way it's 'Boise'.
Cool
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Ron
[Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:12 pm]
Thanks for Boisie Wink Doh bloody Wickythingy Laughing

Changed L3 to this:

to the tragic ones who jumped.

That hit the spot?

And your epic Train poem showed me how to relax with a story and simply say what's on one's unrestrained mind. Wink
_________________
". . . and in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." - The Beatles
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arthurian
[Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:20 pm]
A great visual poem Ron that got me from its initial very nasty line in the start... "He simply left his New York town
to the tragic ones who jumped."
Carries the evocation of an old hobo telling the story too
Really enjoyed
G
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