NaPoWriMo 2017 - Prompt #20 - Money

Money is the theme of today’s poetry prompt. This is a loaded word with a vast amount of imagery and implications for use in poetry. Wealth can represent power, greed, luxury. A lack of money can result in poverty, hardship, and debt. People associate money with social strata. Money can be an obsession, and can make one think of gambling, the lottery, or of someone being a workaholic. Money can be earned, stolen, or even just found on a sidewalk or in the couch. Love of money is canonically “the root of all evil” yet philanthropy is viewed positively. Here are a few lines from some poetry dealing with money:

More Money than God by Richard Michelson

But still he checked each lottery ticket which littered
the empty lot next door, praised their silver latex glitter,
praying to the beautiful unscratched, like little gods.

Money by Howard Nemerov

The nickel: one side shows a hunchbacked bison
Bending his head and curling his tail to accommodate
The circular nature of money. Over him arches
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and, squinched in
Between that and his rump, E PLURIBUS UNUM,
A Roman reminiscence that appears to mean
An indeterminately large number of things

Prompt #20: Write a poem about money. Does it represent safety and comfort, or does it seem there is never enough? What about the imagery of debt - being in the red or the black? How about different economic models such as capitalism? It also has implications for what you then purchase with that money. What ideas about money seem to resonate with you? Include those in your poem.

For something specific, use some words in your poem that you find on actual forms of money - bills, cheques, coins, or credit cards.

Money in a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy aspect will be very interesting to explore!

Did you use this or one of our other prompts? You can post your poem in our comments, if you like.

Happy Writing!

Prompts crafted by:
J.A. Grier, Senior Scientist and Education Specialist, Planetary Science Institute
Amy Grier, Managing Editor, Solstice Literary Magazine
Image Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCurrency_Federal_Reserve.jpg Money, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons