What I Did With the Money
by Greta BolgerI paid my dear old mama's hospital bill
so they wouldn't take her house.
I bought a Bentley. I bought full length mink.
I bought a ticket to Machu Pichu.
I bought a sailboat and a dashiki
to wear when I'm on shore. I bought a life
jacket. I bought a sports jacket. I bought
a man's suit and a haircut and a dye job.
My name is Phil now. You'll never find me.
I squatted over the sewer grate and dropped
the bills in one by one. The coins went plink.
I bought a mammoth television, a leather couch
and a lifetime supply of popcorn. I bought
a boyfriend. I gave it all to the church. I gave
it to the family who adopted my baby. I gave
it to the doctors who saved my leg after
the accident. I dumped it in a wheelbarrow,
poured gas on it and burned it. I mulched it
with the lawnmower. I rolled joints in it.
I used it for toilet paper. I made a salad out
of it, green and crisp as lettuce. I ate it.
Then I made out the deposit slip,
put on my old tweed coat, locked up,
turned out the lights, walked through the snow,
hooked my finger under the cold metal lip
and dropped it right into your pocket,
just like I always do.
.