Just scrape it off.
Like spicy, volcano crust.
It’s not anxiety.
It’s just the grumble of people.
The misty trembling.
Then the bridge of my nose comes into sight.
Just scrape off the old clinging stuff.
Grave voices.
I’m not anxious or nothing.
I’m just a crisp hundred dollar bill for no reason.
Smiling.
Just scrape it off.
Which one?
Whatever makes me mad.
The largest bill I have seen personally is a hundred- dollar bill
I do not like them
They are not as easy to spend as a twenty-dollar bill
Or a five- dollar bill
The largest denomination circulated was the ten-thousand-dollar bill
I would like to see a photo of one of these
But would not like to try and spend it
The stores turn up their noses at the hundred
She stood in line holding a loaf of bread,
so I motion for her to go ahead.
Thanking me, she started counting her change
and I must admit she looked somewhat strange.
She had a hand full of pennies she'd found
outside, where I had thrown them on the ground.
She looked hungry and was shabbily dressed,
but the busy cashier was unimpressed.
They didn't add up; she was three cents shy,
it broke my heart when she started to cry.
While I was throwing my pennies away,
this poor girl didn't have enough to pay.
I offered her a hundred-dollar bill
and told her to keep the change from the till.
And I thanked her for opening my eyes,
leaving her shocked, with a look of surprise.
I questioned my hypocrisy that day
nonchalantly throwing money away.
For I found out that even a penny,
is a treasure when you don't have any.
(Rhyme)
7/17/2021
Touch My Heart Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Regina McIntosh
It was a good morning until…
I lost a hundred-dollar bill.
I cried “Oh no!
Why is this so?”
It was a good morning until…
the mail brought a bill for a mil.
My tears did flow.
I cried with woe.
It was a good morning until…
I wrote a bad check for the bill.
To jail I go.
It’s sad, I know.
Ur car should be burning it
It's Top of the line when referring to my whisk(e)y
Regular, average, standard means the opposite
It's like a hundred dollar bill not a fifty
An A+ on the Final Test
Writing for the few
Show them who is the best
Anything less than Premium will not do
My internal engine burns E85
Cheap and isn't made for certain cars
I don't need Premium gas to drive
I can go just as far
Struggles and challenges give my wordz drive
Money hasn't brought me this far
I write these wordz & those wordz to feel alive
Not having natural ability so u pay to be a superstar
I won't be great until after I die
Sometimes they r outta Premium & u gotta get mid-grade
20 cents less but I'm not good with numbers & percentages
Paying more for Premium gas doesn't make u great
Membership has it priveleges
It's ok cuz my diamond shines even in the dark
Don't need the Big City cuz I'm fine in the Villages
Set fire to their city and my next line is the spark
Without money, I guess my poems are only Mid-Grade
Many people have seen him
But no one knows his name
That easy-walking white haired man
Whose made his claim to fame
One day in a casino
He wagered up a bet
And put a hundred dollar bill
On seven in roulette
He won on number seven
And he built himself a stack
Then he went to play some cards
And he won playing black-jack
A drunkard fool most his life
Now sober twenty years
He hasn't had a single drink
At least, that's what he swears
He's been from place to place
And he's made his claim to fame
He's a solitaire aficionado man
Still, no one knows his name
Bring A Character To Life Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Richard Lamoureux
9-4-2019
Danny was a smart fellow,
he always seemed mellow...
some thought he was gay
and became an easy prey.
Danny spoke with an accent
very distinctive to an extent;
even the wealthy derided him,
and one of them was Mr. Skim.
" Bastards!" He yelled with much rage,
" Hard times destroyed my elite image
and they insult me by tossing dimes...
while they munch on Chicken Fries! "
" Even in brutal weather, I holds sign
that reads," I wear no Calvin Klein'
jeans and sneakers, no Gucci' jewelry;
I have lost my job...have a little mercy! "
A good-hearted man approaches his sill
and kindly offers him a hundred dollar bill,
" Buy yourself a warm blanket and food,
some Coors to blast away your sad mood! "
Written on 10/24/2018
If Washington came back to life
I wonder how he’d feel
To be pictured on a quarter
And a dollar bill – surreal!
Abe Lincoln, too, would bust a gut
If he became alive,
To see his visage plastered
On a penny and a five.
And Alexander Hamilton,
If he could live again,
Would love the play about him
And his picture on the ten.
Had Andrew Jackson ditched his grave,
He’d likely argue plenty
About his image front and center
On our nation’s twenty.
Ben Franklin, though, would be real proud
If he came back to earth,
To find out that a hundred dollar bill
Proclaims his worth.
McKinley’s portrait graces
Money that we rarely use.
(I’ve never even seen that bill –
Five hundred smackeroos!)
Poor Jefferson, despite his wealth
And all he got to do,
Unfortunately got his mug
On the elusive two!
The pictures on our currency
Have long been set in place.
Thank goodness or our current prez
Would swap ‘em for his face.
It's hotter than hell; A-C has a glitch.
Rolled up shirt sleeves, jacket left on a pew,
He preached fast; choir robes beginning to smell.
Sweaty congregation leaves; sermon's done.
He couldn't tell, did God show up today?
His shoulders slumped. Returning for his coat
his wife has discovered an envelope.
"...pray this widens your scope," it read unsigned.
It brought hope, hundred-dollar bill inside
but left him stumped, someone's random kindness.
two unrhymed quintets written: January 28, 2017
Women who drink and sex
It was in Livorno and it was a cold January night when I met her
in a bar- where else does one meet women, in the salvation army?
What she was doing in Livorno beats me as she was an American
woman far from home, I was there waiting for my ship to come in.
We were both drinkers and felt empathy for one another and when
the bar closed she came to my hotel. In the morning, I had a shower,
she was still asleep woke and asked what I was doing in her room
I told her it was my hotel room she cried; worked for the consulate.
We had breakfast, but she needed a drink to feel normal. Saw her go
into a taxi looking like an efficient functionary going to work, I knew
she could not keep it up the day of estimation was near, she left
a hundred dollar bill on my pillow I was both offended and pleased,
being a low paid seaman, my silence would be absolute. If she wrote
a book about this encounter I will somehow get the blame hinting
darkly she had been abused by me. But this is not true what the lady
long for is not being able to make love with abandonment and blame
it on the booze.
Your great collection of vinyl.
It is your own attire.
Room's painted with acryl.
It is my suppressed ire.
Your gave me yet another drill
By the electric fire.
In hopes to develop a skill
Of plausible liar.
Your dear place has far too much frill,
Outside there is barbed wire.
You like the melody of trill,
Nice voices in the choir,
Along the calming sound of quill
And a piano wire.
Did you ever hear horror shrill?
When living rights expire?
Do you possess just enough will
To set my soul on fire?
What should I do that you could kill
In rage out of desire?
I went outside to play with Jill
A mere half hour prior.
Lunch of salad with pickled dill.
Bypassed a black friar.
When will you finally retire?
Do not get mad. You chill!
And give me that pocket hair dryer.
One hundred dollar bill?
Please, there's no need. There is no dire
Emergency. So chill!
Pass me my magic happy pill,
You're elegant esquire!
PREACHER
the preacher explains
as he travels tracks on his palm
he is on god’s path
helter-skelter tracks indeed!
the midnight express toots warning
reverend smith
with his superior air
mounts the podium
from the loft i can see
through the tear his underwear
after sunday service
a hundred dollar bill in the collection plate
“praise the lord!” says smith
to himself quietly covering it
with a five dollar bill
Dave Austin
Paying With a Million Dollar Bill
By Elton Camp
(This is absolutely a true story. Google it and see if you think not.)
In North Carolina, a man went to Wal-Mart for a deal
To make payment, he gave a million dollar bill as real
When the cashier, in disbelief, commenced to protest,
Customer, “Give my change if you know what’s best.”
Why, that fellow would have had to be just a total jerk
For there was absolutely no way that trick could work
Even if the cashier it had proved possible to deceive,
The register held change for a million, who’d believe?
Very soon the cops arrived and ushered him out the door
Manager said, “Don’t you ever try to shop here anymore.”
Now the customer two serious felonies has to face
Is likely to be sent to prison in ignominious disgrace
The hundred dollar bill is the largest note in existence
To present one for a million was a foolish insistence
The Highest Denomination U.S. Bill Ever Printed
By Elton Camp
If on Jeopardy! this question should arise,
The correct answer might be quite a surprise
“What’s a hundred dollar bill? will be wrong
To a larger bill that distinction does belong
Only 42,000 of them actually came to print
And for public circulation were never meant
It was in the 1960s that they quit being made
Outside government use, they were forbade
And only a few still in existence still do remain
A sample certain government agencies did retain
Realize that all 42,000 have been accounted for
Despite Internet claims, there simply are no more
Reports recur that more of them have been located
“We have a certificate of authenticity” is stated
They are nothing but cheaply-made counterfeit
It’s a scam and they aren’t worth the tiniest bit
You were much more than a man with a kite and a key.
By being a founding father of a new country,
your signature can be seen on some great documents.
Helping with the Declaration of independence,
in our history, you made an auspicious presence.
Your many accomplishments can be considered great.
You were seen on half-dollars from nineteen forty-eight
until fifteen years later in nineteen sixty-three
when they bumped you off in favor of John Kennedy.
However, your prominent image we can see still,
on the Federal Reserve’s one hundred dollar bill.
Sub Categories
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.