Day Seven. Sneaking up on 1/4. Not quite 25% yet, but rather 23% today. That is, 23% of National Poetry Month gone by with six poems done. Seven already for me because I did two, such as they were, on "Dickinson day" (day five). ヅ
For today's NaPoWriMo prompt, Maureen Thorson says, "Wallace Stevens famously wrote that 'money is a kind of poetry.' So today, I challenge you to write about money! It could be about not having enough, having too much (a nice kind of problem to have), the smell, or feel, or sensory aspects of money. It could also just be a poem about how we decide what has value or worth."
For today's PAD suggestion, Robert Lee Brewer gives us his usual "Two for Tuesday": "Write a love poem [and/or] Write an anti-love poem." I have a feeling I did something close to that kind of combination the last two days with "Aswang Love" on day four and "Aubade" on day six.
So today's challenge — should we choose to accept it — is a single poem about money, love, and anti-love. Fascinating.
Let me a take a pause for the cause (as we used to say before many of you readers were even twinkles in your grandparents' eyes) and give a shout out to Bruce Niedt who has been successfully merging prompts all month at his blog Orangepeel. Go over and see, gentle readers. You won't be disappointed. I guarantee! Okay, here's my best shot at merging the three prompts. I just wrote and wrote. Didn't think about it too much. Kind of an "improv write." An experiment for me, 'cause I'm always pretty controlled when I compose.
“For the love of money is the root of all evil”
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of God! folks say to show their shock
or disappointment or disgust. Sometimes they say,
For the love of Pete. When I was little I wondered
who that Pete was. I thought he probably didn’t get
enough love. I grew up with a guy named Pete
and he would always say that money was the root
of all evil. Lots of people say that. And believe
it too. Though they don’t much mind money
when they have some. They only mind it when
they are short and payday is still a ways off
and the light bill needs paid. My old friend Pete
loved money a whole lot, though he pretended not to.
He owned a chain of laundromats in Germantown.
You know, Diener’s Cleaners. When we were kids,
everyone used to call him Peter Diener the Wiener.
And I think that kind of thing moved him to do well
in business so he could thumb his nose at us. Before
he became the big boss, Pete’s favorite time at work
was getting the coins out of the washers and dryers.
He would take them home and get Sheila to pour
the money over his hands and he would make like
he was cleaning up with the quarters. He told me
one time that they used to spread the coins on the bed
and fuck on them. Then still wet with stank and stuff
the coins would go into the night depository. Pete
called it his own sperm bank. Even after Pete became
the fancy tycoon, he would still bring coins home
and whatever. Sheila eventually left him, though.
But Pete still brought the quarters home. He told me
that’s when he started not to love money. ’Cause
he would make a bedspread of coins and then
try to cover himself with them but it was never
the same. I told him not to tell me if he did the nasty
on the coins still. I don’t even like to think about it.
It’s not the money that’s the root, it’s the love of it.
Can’t believe I said “root” after all that. I don’t see
Pete much anymore. I heard he got close to Jesus,
but I bet he still rolls around on the money. God,
I don't know. Kinda evil. He sure loved that money.
—Draft by Vince Gotera [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
Here's Alan's intro for today: "The prompts are, in Vince's words, calling for the treatment of money, love, and not-love. It's time for an advertisement."
Touchstone
Released in 1990
from the studio of princesses
who needed rescue
until Pixar took over,
Pretty Woman is now due
for a fanfare-filled release
in limited edition
twenty-fifth anniversary blu-ray
just perfect for your Mother’s Day.
Released originally
through its boutique studio
so no association
would occur between the call girl Cinderella
and the char girl Cinderella,
let this fantasy inspire your dreams
the way it did long years ago
when your gift of VHS
to your treasured mother
held a candy-pink videocassette.
Released originally
without the controversy
that realistic depictions caused,
like Oscar-winning Hanoi Jane in Klute,
or Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy,
or even streetwise Whore,
which won no awards
but had the rare distinction
of its title being banned
from empty cassette sleeves
in rental stores
across the Bible Belt,
let Pretty Woman take off the edge
until the home video
Fifty Shades of Grey
extended release. | | 
|
—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]
You've got the knack, Alan. Good merging of the three prompts in subtle yet unmistakeable fashion. Bravo! Fifty Shades of Grey . . . what a sad state of affairs the business of contemporary cinema is and is in.
Friends, won't you comment, please? Love to know what you're thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don't find the word "comments" in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks!
Ingat, everyone. ヅ |
Posts
2 comments:
Ah, Vince! Great images - now how do I get them out of my head? No, seriously, good stuff.
Vicki, answered you in today's poem!
Post a Comment