Poem from 1997

If I Won the Lotto, Would I Stop Writing Poems?


If I won the Lotto, would I stop writing poems?
Of course I would, I'd have to, with a lot of money
Round my neck, like a dead albatross.
Its only life would be in spending,
And spending takes a lot of time.

If I won a little Lotto, it would take too much of time,
Time spent deciding what was worth the spending-on,
Notes in a book, and lines scratched out to write some more.
How much is an hour worth? A day? A week? A year?
It would be too much trouble, just a little bit of Lotto,
Better wish for lots, as I sit dreaming here.

If I won the Big One, then I'd spend like Croesus,
Waving my arms to make the Things appear;
First a house for me, and then a bigger, and cars
And boats, and maids to do the dirty work
So I could spend my time with lists of words--
Now where did that word come from? What I mean is,
Lists of needs, wants, desires, cries from the human heart,
A person walking just behind me carrying my purse
To pay so I could walk and think and spend.

I'd get a face-lift, lift the tits, and tuck the tummy too;
I'd get the grandkids college funds. Cancer funds for my sisters
And brothers in law all; spending-sinkholes for my
thirty year old kids;
They could have kayaks and Landcruisers out the gigi, Thick carpets, Aga cookers, marble and granite kitchens, sunken tubs,
And look at mine and want yet more!
And if they got no poems, them would not miss them; They would not wonder as they go,
What happened to old Mom's word treasure,
When once she lost the Time Lotto. 

Even that is a pretty depressed poem I guess, but it is funny to let's enjoy it as it is.  Happy Thursday. YAZZYBEL