Coin of the Realm
Bread, Dough, Loot, Greenbacks, Shekels, Singles, Moolah, Lucre, Bucks, Bacon, Chump Change, Benjamins, Jacksons, C-notes, Tender, Dinero, Fivers, Five Spot, Wampum, Plunder, Sawbacks, Scratch...
“Don't gain the world and lose your soul. Wisdom is better than silver or gold." - Bob Marley
Coin of the Realm
Thinking of money,
about what has always seemed
to me to be worn, torn
and tattooed pieces of trees
better left standing,
better left to cleanse the sky
and remind us why
we’re really here.
Why are we REALLY here?
Thinking of money,
of manufactured greed
and the need to feel
separate, superior, immune
to all that befalls
the have-nots, the has-beens, the homeless,
the ones who washed out,
failed to make the grade,
were waylaid by skin color, dues unpaid,
or simply (heaven forbid)
grew old and tired and fed up
with the foolishness.
Those who finally dared to ask,
Why are we REALLY here?
Thinking of money,
of all the absurd and stressful ways
it defines our days - from
the words we speak,
and clothes we wear,
to when, with whom, and where
we spend our time.
How it determines
how much we can afford to care,
how long we’re able to to run
from the simple question
that dares
to ask
Why are YOU really here? - Jena Ball
P.S. If the basics of life - food, shelter, clothing, and education - were a given, and you could redefine money, what would it look like and what would you be able to purchase with it?
Copyrigght 2022 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reseved.
DAMN! YOU ARE GIVING MISS DOROTHY PARKER A RUN FOR HER MONEY, JENA!!
A proper poem, it makes me uncomfortable and ends with a punch. Not the kind one wants to read every day, but the kind one needs to read more often than once in a blue moon.
I do not know why I am really here, in a cosmic sense. I do not have or know "my purpose." So I do the best I can every day to not end up with unmendable regrets.
I fail more often than I care to admit.
If the basics were given...it begs the question, what are the basics? a pallet on the porch of the hostel where I work, with plenty of food, water, and the clothes on my back, friends and family, work and play, lots of laughter? or a house on a lake where I live alone with my dog, free space alone to breathe and create art away from social pressuer? or a motorcylce and a tent and all the gas and my fill of energy drinks and a laptop that can stream my adventures to the world?
Mabye, this is the very first thing each one of us has to figure out: What are my basic needs? What is the sum of things that keep me alive physically and--perhaps a luxury--sane emotionally?
....
My brain stream is now branching into more directions than I get writing room for here, so this is a good place to stop.