Jackpot

She listens to the bells
from slot machines
and the cascades of nickels
falling into steel shells.

Of course, this was what
you heard at the end
of the world.

It wasn't a whimper
at all. It had nothing
to do with anything
human,
not with the mouth
or the ear.

It was the sound
of symbol and motion.
It was the sound
of tin.
-- Kate Braverman, "The Woman Who Said Communion"
(McSweeney's 14)