Dennis Mahagin

Las Vegas

And the MGM Grand is made of jade

that glows like canned heat. Manna fed

lions lay down with lambs in green shade,

spitting rice for the blissful newlyweds

blessed by Elvis. She is a beauty queen

from Racine. He got caught in a downpour

of ducats, having invented a slot machine

that goes off like seagulls and grackles at war.

And suspendered croupiers at Mandalay Bay

can recite Ozymandias, that sonnet by Shelley

for a lonely sandman who hits Ten the hard way

again and again, glazed buffet for empty bellies.

Hooker with a Heart? Shirley ... she runs rings

around your naked finger, for the luck it brings.

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