$5 POEMS

by Joan Shepherd  2014

Five dollars is a lot of money

if you find it on the street

Free money to buy anything

And you needn’t feel guilty

Because you found it

Fair and square

Of course, you could save it

In the piggy bank on the shelf

Your mother would advise that

Then it would be gone, lost to the pig

Like somebody else did, lost on the street

And you are glad 

Because nobody knows you found it

And I will buy

A double chocolate ice cream cone

and maybe another tomorrow

NO $5 BREAD

I like the garlic bread at Lucky store.

Not the kind that’s split lengthwise

that’s saturated with butter and powdered garlic,

put in a kind of aluminum foil sack.

No, the kind I like has the whole cloves of garlic

baked right in the bread.

When you slice it, you may get part of a clove,

a whole clove, or maybe just the hole where the garlic was.

Even so, the bread has a great garlic taste

that is so good, especially if you toast it.

No butter is necessary, nor jam or peanut butter.

Just eat slowly and enjoy.

Unfortunately, the bread costs four dollars

and is worth it. 

But that is my limit. I refuse, absolutely refuse

to pay five dollars for a loaf of bread.

That’s ridiculous.

FIVE SILVER DOLLARS

 Would you rather have a five dollar bill 

 or five shiny silver dollars?

 In your pocket, it would make a difference

as each silver dollar was spent

you could feel the weight lessen.

A paper bill, the same size and weight

as a twenty or even one hundred dollar bill,

you wouldn’t even feel the difference. 

I would tend to save the silver

where I’d have no hesitation spending the paper 

It’s kind of a stupid dilemma anyway.

Five dollars is five dollars, in dimes or quarters

     Or perish the thought, pennies. 

$5 LOST

Five dollars is a lot of money

when you discover it is gone

without even spending it.

Must have happened when I checked out

and put it in my pocket.

I guess not deep enough ‘cause it fell out.

I had plans for that money.

I could have spent it on myself for a toy,

Bought a kite to share with a friend,

get a little plant for my mother,

or a couple of hot dogs for lunch.

But not enough for a coke, too.

Now, it is gone.

Mom won’t know I was thinking of her.

My friend won’t know what I had in mind.

The hot dog man at the corner won’t know

How much I wanted his hot dog,

In fact, two of them.

Damn! I’m disappointed.

Five fucking dollars fell from my pocket.

Damn!

Five dollars is a lot of money.

Damn!