Update: wow, 11,432 submissions as of this morning! I never would have expected half of that.

Apparently I misjudged and underestimated how passionately the poetry and prose can flow when inspired by something as universally resonant as online slots. It just goes to show that USA internet casinos can be both diversion and muse!

The best so far have eschewed the more traditional forms, focusing rather on free verse to express such ineffable sentiments as the nature of casinos accepting Visa. However, a number of clever haiku (and a handful of borderline-clever limericks) have led me to seriously consider a compilation page full of short compositions. BTW: you heard it here first, the author styling herself “gamergrrl431″ has a bright future ahead of her in ironic postmodern greeting cards!

Anyway, enough of the updates. Without further ado about nothing, on to the meat and potatoes of the site…

Has anyone ever written a poem about online slots? Here at the New and Improved Recursive Angel, we challenge all comers to provide a poetic masterpiece about the spinning reels, the cascade of coin, the unquestionable evocative ambiance of the slot machine.

Form? It’s up to you. Anything from classic couplets to rambling free verse is fine with us. Prose? No problem. Music? Well, give it a shot, but we’re not quite up to hosting media files just yet. Give us some time.

You see, we find nothing quite so inspiring as the fruit machine or one-armed bandit. Like the wood-cased radios that tuned in the events and the very culture of a century ago, the classic slots represent a mechanical age just coming to terms with the electronic future. A bridge, if you will, between the rough-and-tumble Wild West saloons and the Space Age glamor of the Rat Pack heyday of Las Vegas.

A voice from the past, a thoroughly corrupt and yet thoroughly innocent age.

Of course, we’re not leaving out the modern age completely; if you wish, you can linger over the computer-generated animation and video game capabilities of the most futuristic video slots as well. There are still those who feel that games are not art, but not us; a quick look at any of the recommendations over at Online Casino USA will give you plenty of examples of the exquisite details and sheer creativity of developers of 21st Century video games.

Inspiration comes from many sources. Perhaps you have to be fascinated with the rich history and subculture of gambling to be inspired by online slots; perhaps the superficial gaudiness and oft-repeated connection to criminality and loose morals turns you away from the fascinating sights, sounds, and stories that the history of gambling has provided.

We understand; sometimes a widespread, mainstream cultural prejudice is a hard thing to shake, and you may certainly find more inspiration in rainbows and unicorns than jackpots and betting against the odds…