"The Lottery Ticket"

Priyanka
Horace Mann School
Bronx County, NY

I presume
it was
déjà vu
that brought me here 

to the
abandoned house
to drown out
my sorrows 

in a lottery ticket. 

isn’t it ironic
how
after a short five months
I could lose 

my job
my house
my kids
and my dignity? 

I feel like an unlucky beggar
fishing for the lucky Powerball
in a bay with nothing
but fish. 

look at me
scratching
out this card
in hope that 

a woman
like myself
who lost her soul
in the great recession 

could win a million bucks. 

I used to think
believing in luck was a sick joke
but now
it’s the only hope I’ve got.