If you've a yen
(it's not zen)
you may bet your bottom dollar
while integrating yin yang cosmology
Chinese philosopher and scholar
Dong Zhongshu
(good old you know who)
favoured heaven worship results
over and above traditional cults
altho' a man well-read
he often wrote instead
yet to avoid confusion
knowingly said, 'Jump to assumption,
arrive wrong conclusion.'
the ward is stamped white
a fidelity to fading, sometimes in a smear of shadows
in her corner, Lilly sits
wheelchair bound
her white hair falling
like her winks at strangers
John's arrival cuts solitude
raises Lily's soft shell of aging
their homage to love like Billboard vows
interlocked fingers that bind intimacy
till close knit words trail to song
his voice dusky
washing over Lily like cologne
Broadway tunes
"the sun'll come out tomorrow
bet your bottom dollar
that tomorrow there'll be sun"
his affecting gush of song ushers remembrance
caught in the tucked curl of her smile
stoic
remarkable
peeling back impairment
outside this place of pleading
outside what recedes to hollow
sands of life sifted into this short hour
place of togetherness
as they want it to be
one soul into another
Poem written June 6, 2023
There’s a place in never never land
Where shopping centres go
Every single night to replace
The goods they have on show
You’ll never see them travelling
'Cos they go through hyper-space
And sometime in the panic
Get returned to the wrong place
So if you’re in your city centre
And the shops don’t seem quite right
You can bet your bottom dollar
They’ve had a busy night
And in the panic and the mayhem
What should have gone to Crewe
Got sent to Market Wittering
Causing a to do
The staff doesn’t really care
So long as they can vend
And people seldom notice
Just carry on and spend
It doesn’t really matter
For in the retail game
Every single shopping centre
Looks the bloody same
In New Orleans for some highjinks.
Here to rally ‘round the flag.
She’ll be open to suggestion
When I’ve got her bound and gagged.
I won’t need to solve the riddle
Of the chicken or the egg
To distinguish first from foremost
While I’m making Mandy beg.
You can bet your bottom dollar
Gonna taste forbidden fruit
On a fragrant bed of roses
In this house of ill repute.
Hog the limelight. Gild the lily.
Need to take her down a peg,
Teach her all the whys and wherefores
As I’m making Mandy beg.
There be rotten things in Denmark:
Humble pie and bathtub gin,
Sour grapes with gall & wormwood,
Magdalena’s Den of Sin.
Gonna need a pot to piss in.
Go and tap another keg.
She’ll be forced to face the music
When I’m making Mandy beg.
There’ll be ample food for thought
When I talk turkey with the cook.
I’ll be tickling her fancy
Till she babbles like a brook.
Then I’ll call her on the carpet
As the juice runs down her leg.
Demon rum, Miss Goodie Two-shoes,
I’m just making Mandy beg.
The crazy weird old lady and her son
That live at the bottom of our street
I wonder if this is how our neighbors
would describe the pair of us
Bet your bottom dollar they would
if you threw in a few stray cats for
good measure
And answering the front door in what
can only be described as filthy pajamas
Feeding bread crumbs to the pigeons in
her garden so overgrown with weeds
even they can't be bothered to scavenge for
You can offer time and help
do favours and show sympathy,
but some are all about themselves
knowing not of empathy,
attention given won’t see a return
for only they are their concern,
never notice others feel hopeless,
as they are not tuned into others,
pointed out claim
“you don’t know stress”
no one knows their pain
and tell you you should cope
and too without complaints
though flip the script
treat them no joke, love shown
but bet your bottom dollar
they expect devotion to their moan
Throw me to the wolfs
And I will surely lead the pack
Some lead it from the front
But I will lead it from the back
Watching every move
The adversary makes
Hear my ghostly howl
When the full moon wakes
When I sink my teeth
Into inviting flesh
You can bet your bottom dollar
There'll be a bloody mess
16 October 2018
Money is a universal language. They say money talk bull crap walks
even the def hears it. You gotta pay the price to live nice.
Money can turn people cold as ice. I like my pockets fatter then Kelly price.
Success is my friend, i learned to fight with my pen. Words close as kin
the more money i earn the more money i yearn,thus i can't be broke.No
money life is a joke. You cant take care of your folks.I love to count
that cheese yellow yolks. You know what they say another day another dollar holla. You could bet your bottom dollar. Money makes the world go round.
Build a mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door. To get what you give sometimes you gotta cash in your chips. Don't bit the hand that feeds you money i need you.
Every day you wake up happy,
There are people who wake up sad;
Every time you have some good luck
Others’ luck is being bad.
Every check-up that finds you healthy,
There is a diagnosis not as good;
Every time you eat a big meal,
There are families wishing that they could.
Every birthday candle you blow out,
Someone’s birthday will be their last;
Every time you receive a paycheck,
There are people begging for some cash.
And even when our days are bad,
And it feels like we are cursed;
You can bet your bottom dollar
There are folks who have it worse.
So, be happy for your good days;
Be happy for your health;
Be happy for your big meals;
Be happy for your wealth;
Be happy in the knowledge,
That the worst you’ll ever know,
Is better than the best of
Some other average Joe
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.