Money, By DANA GIOIA

Money is a kind of poetry. --Wallace Stevens

Money, the long green,

cash, stash, rhino, jack

or just plain dough.

shell it out. Watch it

burn holes through pockets.

To be made of it! To have it

to burn! Greenbacks, double eagles,

megabucks and Ginnie Maes.

It greases the palm, feathers a nest,

holds heads above water,

makes both ends meet.

Money breeds money.

Gathering interest, compounding daily.

Always in circulation.

Money. You don’t know where it’s been,

but you put it where your mouth is.

And it talks

(Copyright) 1991 by Dana Gioia. Reprinted by permission.