Judas' Wager

The stylish keeper expected my arrival.
He wore a white top hat, suit, and gloves,
and welcomed me with an amused grin—
(was it some sort of droll courtesy, then?)—
as I tiptoed through a transparent crystalline looking glass.

Two rumpled sheets flew open,
by my flipper hand,
And manifested an old burlesque club;
a veritable circus
enveloped in a forest of sound.

On a squat chunk of wood,
two fat white women undressed like heathens,
tossing their costumes on the ground like
heaps of rags
before a large group of smiling sheep.

Doughnuts were strewn across a long, gold table—
some chewed and spat on,
most licked by a naked woman
wearing wings of mystery,
yet no halo.

A big neon sign flickered in white and blue
behind the stage:
“HAVE”
(two letters were too dim to see)
while two lit slabs lay disgruntled on a shelf somewhere,
seemingly peevish at the victor
of Tic-Tac-Toe.

I looked at him, the keeper, and he at me,
along with his wild mouth of teeth and
never-before-seen, shining jewelry.
And My God—
the keeper made it all clear.

It was patently ironic:
nothing in the air was smelled
(my nose crinkled with regret),
nothing was felt or heard or tasted;
(my finger drenched in chilly retrospect);
yet, I witnessed it all with my windowed face,

and I thought to myself,
“God, get me out of this place,”
but I merely dreamt, and dreamt again
until somebody decided to turn up the jukebox.

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Made this for my beginning poetry writing class. We had to write a poem based on random phrases that we selected from a passage of a random story. The words I chose:

smiling sheep, lit slabs, heaps of rags, fat white woman, rumpled sheet, droll courtesy, amused grin, stylish keepers, shining jewelry, light-echoing wake, blank and tingling, magic show, white-gloved assistant, forest of sound, doughnut, leash, naked woman, big neon sign, sqaut chunk, veritable circus, jukebox, patently ironic.