Richard Michelson

poet, children’s book author, and speaker; former Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA; host of Northampton Poetry Radio; founder and owner of R. Michelson Galleries; winner of the National Jewish Book Award, Sydney Taylor Award, Junior Library Guild Gold Medals, Massachusetts Book Award, and Teacher of the Year Social Justice Award; named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council, NY Times 10 Best Illustrated Books, and Harlem Book Fest Wheatley Finalist

MORE MONEY THAN GOD

my father said, again and again, shaking his head

in disbelief at any ostentation; the neighbor’s gold-

plated knocker (we still banged fists) or my own lust

to own the autographed edition or the waxed bronze bust.

It is not only the idea—which should hold all the pleasure—

but the poet’s pencil marks on paper which we treasure

above the memorized poem. And so I fan my flushed face,

signaling the fast-talking auctioneer, who has traced

the provenance, and picks up the pace, multiplying offers.

And who now does my father’s bidding? Heaven’s coffers,

perhaps, are for the destitute; but why did he have to die

to escape the shitty crime-ridden, never-to-be-gentrified

neighborhood of both our births? The cost of living,

he would argue, is not the worth of being alive.

But still he checked each lottery ticket which littered

the empty lot next door, praised their silver latex glitter,

praying to the beautiful unscratched, like little gods.

Money talks, he taught me. But nobody beats the odds.