Poems from the 12-Hour Sonnet Contest: Settling Scores, David J. Rothman

David J. Rothman’s most recent books are Learning the Secrets of English Verse (Springer 2022), coauthored with Susan Spear, and My Brother’s Keeper (Lithic 2019).

Settling Scores

 Good God, why shouldn’t people love their money?

Look what it brings: time, power, clothes, good teeth,

Education, safety, comfort, sunny

Days on sparkling beaches underneath

A clear, untroubled, cobalt sky. Why not?

Show me the good that you can do without it,

The gift you make untouched by cash. We’re caught

In currency’s bright stream, no doubt about it,

Though it’s made from the same star stuff as us,

As the dirt is, and just like anything

On earth it can become wild, dangerous,

An evil root, a curse, a scorpion sting.

Love may be king, but cash settles the scores.

The question is: What do you do with yours?


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