Monopoly

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by Connie Wanek


We used to play, long before we bought real houses.
A roll of the dice could send a girl to jail.
The money was pink, blue, gold as well as green,
and we could own a whole railroad
or speculate in hotels where others dreaded staying:
the cost was extortionary.

At last one person would own everything,
every teaspoon in the dining car, every spike
driven into the planks by immigrants,
every crooked mayor.
But then, with only the clothes on our backs,
we ran outside, laughing.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 29, 2010 at 2:08 PM

    Oh to be young and naive again...but no, maybe not....smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. English RiderMarch 29, 2010 at 4:34 PM

    A little too prophetic. It made me shiver.

    ReplyDelete
  3. debraMarch 29, 2010 at 6:07 PM

    (o)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mary EllenMarch 30, 2010 at 6:45 PM

    Great match-up with the photo - and those old silver tokens were the best! Somehow, as an endless-summer-blessed youngster, I didn't connect the game with the Game of Life (with real houses, wages, and disasters).

    ReplyDelete
  5. NanceApril 2, 2010 at 7:34 AM

    One of the ways I knew my then-boyfriend/now-husband was a keeper? He LOANED ME MONEY in Monopoly. True love.

    ReplyDelete

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