Planet Bingo

I’ve been on Planet Bingo 20 years
and I recall the early pioneers
who bet the house,
the pet, the spouse,
and lost of course, and shed no tears,
and waltzed the night away to Johann Strauss
beneath the sidereal chandeliers.

On Planet Bingo everybody wears
elaborate and ostentatious flares
and on the bus
we all discuss
the lifestyles of the millionaires
and other things that don’t apply to us
like wealthy dowagers in need of heirs.

To recollect those gilded escapades,
those penny opera pageants and parades,
is some succour,
you can be sure,
as Planet Bingo slowly fades,
like that exotic holiday brochure
and that old gear - the velveteens and suedes.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 26th, 2004 at 8:54 PM and filed under Old stuff, Poetry. Trackbacks are closed.

8 Responses to “Planet Bingo”

  1. bettyb said:

    I feel like i’ve been missing out.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  2. jimi said:

    you can’t beat a little bit of bingo, it’’s the new cocain don’t you know.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  3. incunabulist said:

    I’ll raise a glass
    Of Malibu on Ice
    To Planet Bingo -
    It sounds quite nice.

    1 Sweetie(s) given

  4. incunabulist said:

    At the risk of banging on, I’ll say again that I think this is brilliant. I have learned it by heart and noticed one ambiguity: are the ‘wealthy dowagers in need of heirs’ amongst the things ‘that don’t apply to us’, or are we like the wealthy dowagers?

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  5. menace said:

    Thanks - the former.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  6. menace said:

    And at the risk of banging on, thanks again.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  7. incunabulist said:

    I thought so. I love ’sidereal chandeliers’ - star-like in the sense of glittery but also because they are the outermost point of this little world.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

  8. menace said:

    Quite. Although the true place of ’sidereal’ is in crossword puzzles.

    0 Sweetie(s) given

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