Claw Machine

We all remember being little kids

And going to the arcade

Every time we went we would try the claw machine

Putting in a quarter for the chance to get a small toy 

Moving the controller back to front and side to side 

At some point getting the rusty metal claws around a bunny’s ears or a cats tail,

Only for it to drop out of reach once the claw went to the top.

Over and over we would try again 

Until it was time to go home.

When I was a kid I started playing a claw machine

I spent quarter after quarter trying to win a prize 

Sometimes I would get as close as to the little flap where  the toy would drop out

But then it would fall again. 

I tried over and over, spending too many quarters to count.

Until the day I realized 

I had given the game too many tries

Only to realize there was no prize inside