rich star, spends cash
new car, dash... smash!
Poor old Mickey Mouse
Minnie asking for a house
dreams in the trash
they being short on cash
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
They are now but cash cows
(a trough in which to quaff)
for the many attendees
who sit on long-winded
Government-funded investigation committees
no one around to hear the sound
(of what falls in the woods)
while their coffers swelled
for all the papers printed on the ecology
more than several trees were felled
the fracking drilling boring too
(found underground)
wastes water in copious quantities
releases greenhouse gas
and undermines the earth in the final analyses
deliberate discussion and debate
('til the cows come home)
to which they are compelled
only exacerbates the issue
of global warming
with all their hot air expelled
We've sold the White House
to the highest cash bidder ~
just pawns in the game
Cash
It’s king
Makes tills ring
But here’s the thing
What we call a till
I suspect, always will
According to my sister
(which, in slang is skin and blister)
In the U.S. is a register
But when tills (or registers) are ringing
Which explains why shopkeepers are singing
I watch, nonchalantly debating
It’s what I do while I’m waiting
How many words mean ‘money’
Well, pony and monkey
May be quite funky
But dough and bread
In my head
Still mean
Cash
Money, money, money
Give me a penny,
I’ll stash it, I’ll hide it,
And guard it like treasure.
In his belly, a hunger
That can’t be fulfilled,
For gold and for riches
His greed is unmatched.
He pockets the profits,
The worker gives his all,
But when it’s time to pay,
The boss is long gone.
No thought for the world,
Just riches to keep,
He’ll chase every dollar
And never lose sleep.
He was thrilled to shill his best bet token
AM green candles he had awoken
So I FOMO’d in chasing candles green
Surely to see more money than I’d seen
But alas, the baned black swan, it appeared
Way worse than any flash crash I had feared
Fearing my FOMO turned flat into FUD
Fainting to facedown in red-tainted mud
He made his move, got out, and I got burned
That frenzied fickle market, it had turned
Quick to find, then lose, that forward motion
Quick to quit, then wrestle with emotion
Craving fast quick cash that we can’t refuse
Never buy more than you’re willing to lose
Well come on in, I'll bolt the door,
Excuse the dog mess, on the floor,
Let's get this one bar fire to roar,
Coffee's still warm, so I'll just pour,
Oat meal biscuits? go on take four,
Money troubles? heard it before,
Eight hundred a month and it's yours,
Down payment cash, the room's secured...
Who said life was going to be fair?
Come on, let’s make this circle square,
Poor as church mice, bolder than brass,
Circle right then show me the cash.
We'll keep it underneath your hat,
But there’s no room to swing a cat,
They say the best in life is free,
So square this circle left like me.
Fair and square like they always say,
Fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay,
Money is round to go around,
London Bridge, now we all fall down.
The rain outside is cats and dogs,
Grandma just popped her dancing clogs,
Look this gift horse, right in the mouth,
Forward, back, now let’s journey south.
Entry for the Golden Age of Music Poetry Contest, sponsored by Oliver McKeithan, March 2025, Second Place.
I dreamed of Johnny Cash last night,
his music spoke to me,
I said I thought that you were dead,
but music lives said he,
but music lives said he.
From Folsom, to Fort Bend,
for every soul behind bars,
he asked if we could say a prayer,
then picked up his guitar,
then picked up his guitar.
He sung to me of Ira Hayes,
words that rung in my ears,
the world of reservations,
with all those rivers of tears,
with all those rivers of tears.
We talked and talked of music,
country, hip hop and blues,
how Bo Diddley and Beyoncé,
can move our blue suede shoes,
can move our blue suede shoes.
I dreamed of Johnny Cash last night
surprised to see him back,
I said I thought that you were dead,
but he was still dressed in black,
but he was still dressed in black.
Trump Crunch Bunch for Lunch
cash really did crunch
which he would do bunch by bunch
ate it all for lunch
Fluorescent lights hummed
a monotone drone,
In the background,
the resonant chimes and dings
of the cash register sing.
A lone moth fluttered
past my empty dome
Light, purposeless,
similar to myself.
Glassy eyes wandered back,
staring deep into the infinite
assembly line I could not help
but lose myself in.
Neon nectars beckoned me
like a sugary siren,
I was a drunken sailor
to their decadent call.
I lost and found myself,
aisle after aisle
Until a warmth, a glow,
near divine, graced me.
A fresh soft pretzel
beckoned me to my very soul,
Golden yeast skin
cheddar cheese veins,
The savior I needed
to feel at ease again.
I realise just how old I am, when I don't even know how facebook works,
And I don't have any idea how someone twirks.
I read maps from an atlas book,
I don't like google and the way it looks.
I like to have cash, I like the way it feels,
But I guess it does make it easier to steal.
I want a theatre ticket that can be held and be seen,
Instead of showing it on your mobile screen.
But as life goes on and time passes by,
I guess just to keep up I will have to try.
At first, Henry did not grasp a thing:
The look in Sam’s eyes at that moment.
Was it trying to some warning bell ring
And its stark rebuff reward with ailment?
In it Henry sensed, at last, full danger
At mood’s good study not a full stranger…
There was a drowning man in Sam’s eyes
While he held out a challenging take-prize
“Yeah, you love who says business and means it:
They’re the ones you may trust every minute…”
“And shoots him who stays long with my big cash:
For there are banks in which I could it stash.”
Guys have been praising Jenny
Bent on marrying poor Lenny
At hill tops "I love Lenny,
Whose bank account reads Penny!"
Not that he has not any
But women gasp for many
And Jenny's needs damned many
Still rejected Rich Kenny,
Who himself hates a Nanny:
Wedding one thinks uncanny.
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