Money Poems
For Whom The Bell Tolls
by John Donne
PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he
knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so
much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my
state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The
church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she
does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action
concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which
is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member.
And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is
of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is
......
A Red Palm
by Gary Soto
You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.
That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair
......
Warning
by Jenny Joseph
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
......
Poem
by Elizabeth Bishop
About the size of an old-style dollar bill,
American or Canadian,
mostly the same whites, gray greens, and steel grays
-this little painting (a sketch for a larger one?)
has never earned any money in its life.
Useless and free., it has spent seventy years
as a minor family relic handed along collaterally to owners
who looked at it sometimes, or didn't bother to.
It must be Nova Scotia; only there
......
The City In Which I Loved You
by Li-Young Lee
And when, in the city in which I love you,
even my most excellent song goes unanswered,
andI mount the scabbed streets,
the long shouts of avenues,
and tunnel sunken night in search of you...
That I negotiate fog, bituminous
rain rining like teeth into the beggar's tin,
or two men jackaling a third in some alley
weirdly lit by a couch on fire, that I
......
Everything Belongs to Me Because I Am Poor
by Lee-Ann Azzopardi
My blood monitor has broken down
And my computer is falling apart
My love love-life is non-existence
But those aren't on my mind
I am scheming a way to get more money
Money for food
To provide nourishment for my family
And those things to entertain me
Should I rob a bank?
However, if I get caught
......
The Synagogue of Medics
by Fidelis Peter Olowu
People can blow their trumpets
And make it sound so loud everywhere
But in the synagogue of medics
They become quiet and meek,
They let lose of the tiger in them
And cause havoc just to prove strength
But in the synagogue of medics
They regret and pay for their actions
People can be terribly stingy
......
Not Money, Not Everything
by Aloo Denish Obiero
They lived in a different era, in a different area,
Not today, and never in our cities,
And so they drew a conclusion,
That money is not everything. Right.
I live in this era, in this area,
Today, and in these cities,
And behold, a thing so strange:
The newest disability is lack of money. Right.
......
Just Tell Me
by Lee-Ann Azzopardi
Would you weep if I left?
Or be relieved that I am not
Causing trouble
I know I am trying to
The right thing
But what can I do
To prove?
Can I give you all
My money?
I don't have anything
......
Monetize
by Kevin Schroeder
How does one monetize an emotion?
Trading raw truths in a marketplace of feelings,
Where every vulnerability wears a price tag,
Every confession a coin.
I lay bare my joy’s
The laughter that dances like sunlight,
And the sorrows, dark as night,
Offering them up as wares crafted from my soul.
......
