Risk Man
in the shade of the alley
back curved head bent
orange milk crate for a seat
the man considers lottery numbers
marks the card
in the pauses between choices
drags on his cigarette
blows out the smoke
not looking up
as cars pass out of the parking lot
a couple of feet in front of him
8/3/19
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
I had wondered what risk this would be about. Another great portrait.
It makes me think of my father-in-law, who was nothing like this, but who played every lottery. 😀
Thank you. I saw a guy at the Wawa doing the lottery card and the picture made an impression on me because he was oblivious to everything else going on around him. I have a “knack” for winning raffles, I win moret han chance would say, I think, but I never play the lottery much. The “knack” does not seem to extend to it…
I think my father-in-law only ever won a few dollars from the lotteries–he played a bunch of them, but he didn’t drink or smoke or spend money on much else. 😀 He also entered some contests. Years ago, he gave us a couple of small appliances that he won.
My Most recent win was tickets to Longwood Gardens. My mother used to enter contests and won quite a few things but never anything useful.
Oh, that’s a nice win!
To enter the raffle I wrote a haiku about spring and also participated in the Zoom reading sponsored by my local brach (you did not have to read the poem to enter the raffle but I did and I enjoyed the whole event). Winnings all around!
Lovely! It sounds like a fun event!
This is a nicely observed moment of someone taking a break from the surrounding hustle and bustle to focus on a single task.
Thank you. The man was in a busy Wawa parking lot and paid no attention to what was happening around him. The lottery had all his attention.
I envisioned the moment as I read the poem, love your imagery!
Thank you. He was a real person in a real setting but I am of course imagining what he thought. Visual eavesdropping, I guess that is what I was doing.
I love it – visual eavesdropping!