Every other Friday,
With my paycheck in my hand,
I headed to the savings bank,
Exactly like I’d planned.
I’d cash the check, depositing
A bit so it would grow,
Reflected in my passbook
Where the interest would show.
That Lincoln Savings Bank is now
An upscale toddler gym,
Survival rates for local banks
Now, sadly, kind of slim.
Direct deposit also changed
The way most folks get paid
And I’m not sure that passbooks,
Nowadays, are even made.
Yet I remember feeling
So grown-up with that fresh check,
Never thinking it would be replaced
By banking done by tech.
Pauly’s Bank Deposits
Pauly’s passkey
Pickup hiccups
Passbook Facebook
Payload payroll
Honey money
Crossbow bankroll
5/18/21
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2021 ©
Hard to believe you graduated
from college 25 years ago.
Anyone who can climb
from ruffian in a juvenile home
to university graduate to
business owner is remarkable.
One day your sons
will come to understand that.
Your siblings as well.
Couldn’t be prouder of your trek,
a magnificent one, done the hard way,
something I viewed from the valley.
My father had a passbook
with cash for me to go to college.
He always had work, hard work,
highly skilled, with no layoffs.
There’s always a demand for hot wire
electricians willing to climb
tall poles and high towers,
attack voltage in any weather.
Life never steps back, forever upstream,
and then suddenly we're salmon.
A final thrust or two and we die.
Thank God we have souls.
Donal Mahoney
When I first started working
(And things were low-tech),
Each payday I'd march
To the bank with my check.
I'd sign it and wait for
The teller to take it,
Depositing some
Just as soon as I'd make it.
I'd glance in my passbook
To check the amount,
So proud that I'd managed
To have an account.
It's years now since I've
Stepped inside of a bank.
I guess that technology's
What I should thank.
Yet somehow I miss
Those transactions of yore.
There is no connection
Like I had before.
With auto-deposit
The money I earn
Never touches my hand
(Though it's still mine to burn).
Yes, it makes my life easy -
Well, timewise it does -
But it's just not the same
As the way it once was.
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.