A Penny For Your Thoughts (Flash Poetry Piece)

A short poetic-style piece about the dangers of collective thought and needing to be validated by the internet/social media, written in a comparison to gambling.

Stopping in to share something a little different today: a short poetic-style piece I recently wrote about the dangers of collective thought and needing to be validated by the internet/social media. I crafted this piece around a comparison between addictive gambling and the time-warp that exists inside casinos. It was fun for me to write and, hopefully, for you to read.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts

by Lindsey Lamar

Caught in the reflection of the shadowed mirror,
My eyes reflect the darker game of chance.

7-7-7-8

My finger pulls down the screen for another go,
Because it only cost a cent. And what's a cent to me?

The spare piece of my brain slips into the boxes like a soldier,
Maneuvering edited realities that exist so effortlessly inside this 
Glass cage that we're in. Padlocked by a combination,
That I already know. 

One that would release me from labyrinth
But, I'm too close to finding the trophy.
So, my eyes skip in waiting,
For the numbers that control my fate.

This bit of me
That I've given to the game,
Dances in digital frames
In ways that I never could.
In cyan illumination,
I see an avatar that looks
Like everything I could 
Morphe into.

Only If I earn it,
Only if I keep playing.

My focus darts to follow my reflection across the scoreboard.
Will this new piece of me
That I gave to the world
Win the game?

Will people watch me?
Will they like me enough to
Applaud with two taps on the glass window
When I win the game?
My thumbs pull again.

7-6-7-7

I place another fraction of myself into the machine.
This is not a problem because,
I know when to stop.

Nobody has ever won.
But, I will be the first.

My life dissappears in the block of blue light,
through several turns of the clock.
My memory hazed to the math,
I don't know how much I've spent.

Was I hypnotized for just a minute
Or was it a year?

It was only a penny for my thoughts.
But that might be too expensive now,
For I have none left of my own.

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This piece is copyrighted by Lindsey Lamar (2022). Thanks for checking it out. If you like it feel free to share or comment!

PS: A new ECA article will be released on my Substack soon. :)

Photo by Heather Gill on Unsplash