You will buy your Life as a series of
Experiences to which you will Belong.²
There is only one holistic system of systems,
One vast & immane, interwoven, interacting,
Multinational dominion of dollars: Currency
Determines the totality of all human life.³
All 4,600 million years of Evolution:
It’s packed, sealed, tagged, valued,
And available on the shelf.⁴
The contrast of Affluence & Wretchedness
Is like dead & living bodies chained together!⁵
The Poor don’t notice for they are too poor—
And the Rich don’t notice for they are too rich—⁶
We ignore the coming Doom of Gold and
We are glad in this bright metal season.⁷
Poets get directlier at the Soul
Than any of your Œconomists!⁸
The Good person understands Rightness
Whereas the petty person understands profit.⁹
You say that only money counts—then we will bring you
Money, but do not ask for the beauty of a Rose, the
Colors of Dawn-Morning, nor a flaming Love …¹⁰
¹ Emily Dickinson, The Hallowing of Pain
² Rae Armantrout, Exit Row
³ Paddy Chayefsky, Network
⁴ Arundhati Roy, Come September
⁵ Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice
⁶ Tadeusz Rózewicz tr. Maguire & Krynski, What Happens
⁷ Sylvia Plath, Gold Mouths Cry
⁸ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
⁹ Confucius tr. Edward Slingerland, Analects 4.16
¹⁰ Langston Hughes, A Wooing