Poem of the Week

April 23, 2009 #529

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ah, the temptation
When one can print money
To print it and print it --
As much as one needs!

Ah, for one moment
The outlook is sunny:
Wealth is restored!
The project succeeds!

People are working,
Beginning to spend;
Credit is flowing,
The market is pleased;

Banks once again
Have money to lend;
One has a sense
That the moment was seized.

The problem is nothing
Can never be something:
Money just printed
Was not bought or sold.

There was no exchange
Of one thing for one thing:
Something produced,
Like laughter or gold.

And so we've increased
Our money without
Increasing the value
Of what it can buy.

The outcome must be
Without any doubt,
According to laws
Of demand and supply.

When there is more money
In relation to things,
Prices will rise
In response to demand.

Since just-printed wealth
No exchange for goods brings,
The goods stay the same
As the dollars expand.

Prices rise quickly,
Leaving us nothing
More than we had
When we first began.

And so we learn nothing
Can never be something
The hard way -- again --
As we sink in the sand.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 16, 2008 #504

NOW, AT LAST, THE TIME OF RECKONING

Now, at last, the time of reckoning.
It had to come. You knew that, didn't you?
After all, nothing can't be something
Even when its stock is on the rise.

Now the panic after the delusion,
The great big yawning pit within the heart.
One sees disaster happening and wonders,
Regrets, resolves, recriminates, sits tight.

O Lord, what will happen now? The hunger,
People on the streets and on the move.
The last depression blossomed into Hitler.
What flowers will this rain of terror bring?

One thing now we know for sure – again:
That greed unfettered is a luxury car
Without a steering wheel, a mighty engine
That moves us forward into death and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon