Coining A Phrase

Penny for your thought? Sorry, all I got.

One earned saved shiny secrets kept;

bright copper rain from heaven wept.

Gimme a nickel I’ll try to tickle 

your funny bone plug out of breath;

my wooden laughter, dimed to death.

Life turns on a dime ~ does it all the time.

A dozen decisions will spin

around ‘n round one coin so thin.

Given no quarter, just have to barter ...

pounder costs way more than two-bits,

‘n all you get are nasty s***s!

Change fills our live’s jar ~ then off to Coinstar.

A dollar waitin’ on a dime

can’t spare a pocketful of rhyme.

2022

Author's Note

My apologies to the restaurant in question ... but it’s the truth!

This is a form called Bi-trillets that Richard🖌 developed. I feel like it works well with humorous subjects. Especially for a poet like billigami who’s got a pocketful rhyme.

Reviews

[lightsong]

How come I am not here? I can swear that I read it before. "Coining A Phrase"? someone taught me to pay with words, after all we have a countless bankaccount of words! wow how rich we would be! imagine each word i a dollar and we pay with it lol. how easy our lives would be, still... true worth is the true Money, which are WORDS. how your creative mind comes with such interesting thoughts and ideas, sure your humorous adds another flavor!

[William Michael Reeves]

Humor is a good flavor. Poetic spice. I like to think someone would read my pages and end up riding a roller coaster of ideas and emotions. I feel I would be good at being an 'ad-man'. Writing slogans and getting rich 🤑. I feel rich. I have so many valuable syllables in my account from you and the poets here in the cafe. I might be willing to forgive your debt incurred by not reading this poem right away, but in the future I recommend having overdraft insurance to cover my pain when you default on the reviews you owe me.

I thought you just didn't think much of this one so politely left it alone. Thanks for the nice review tendered.

[Lisasview]

Been away for awhile...My busy life...ah well.. C'est La Vie
Loved your words dear Michael..
So so clever!!!
Lisa, still in Spain

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks Lisa. I've been pulled away too.

Bill, still ... somewhere not here. Need to get back!

[Lisasview]

You might like to...even you have a chance read my newest one.. Whispers in the Wind..

[Einstein Noodle]

yes ... well ... it's all paper after all ... and mostly copper .. pity the US went off the gold standard .. at least one had an idea of what they had or had not ... enjoyed reading .. lots of turns of phrases .. have to check up and learn about Bi-trillets .. Richard is one industrious, creative man isn't he!?
E.

[William Michael Reeves]

Isn't that when inflation started? No gold standard. No certificates of silver. Now are coins are bit. And most money earned is never had. Electronic transfers of numbers. Where's the romance in that? No more jingle in the jumble. Richard is a poetic force for sure! Thanks Gene.

[Einstein Noodle]

where is the romance indeed ... i was a paper boy at 12 yrs. old until i could work in restaurants, factories etc. which was 16 .. i remember using silver dollars to give change .. as well as receiving them for payments ... oh ... how i wish i had hoarded them all ;) of course many things are like that .. baseball cards (clothes pinned them to the spokes of my bike) model airplanes, cars and monsters .. set them on fire and blew them up when i thought i was too old for them :) and on and on eh!? the "bit" thing scares me my friend .. so much of life seems more and more reduced to the computer .. easy enough as it is for the IRS to take what they think is owed .. can you imagine if the world banking turned completely cyber .. how easy for someone to take it all ... i don't know .. call me paranoid .. but it is not all the good it is sold as being .. in my opinion

[Red Brick Keshner]

A true pleasure to read; both fun and stirring of though appreciated as well.

[Lillian Kirsch]

I loved the word play in this one, it made me chuckle. The poem also flowed really well and felt like a classic tongue twister

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks. Nice review. This is a form a teacher and modern poet developed. The puzzle of poetry fascinates me. Get an idea, then see if I can pull it off. I appreciate your review Lillian.

I wrote a couple poems for Dick and Lori. You might get a kick out of the one about their yard. You know it well. 'Garden Of Inanimate Delights'. It's a Japanese form called Haibun. And my poem 'At The Dawn Of Love' is about them. Same form I used for this poem. See if you can write a little something in a review of those. I can read that to them and they would enjoy it a lot.

Bill

[Miss Sharon]

Well aren't you the clever one? Very enjoyable read my friend. ~Sharon

[William Michael Reeves]

Thank you much Sharon. Gotta try to tap on the funny bone once in a while. Thanks

[Ken e Bujold]

lovely little ditty Will. makes me think of how poetry is found, one skinny dime at a time, whenever we think to dip our fingers inside our pockets

Ken

[William Michael Reeves]

And when we're down to that last thin dime, reaching deep into the pocket of poems, we can only hope a publisher will take a shine to fill the poor poets pocket. Glad you enjoyed the witty ditty. Thanks Ken

[Betty Hermelee]

An excellent play on words, coins ,life, and rhyme.... it's very cleverly crafted ( Richard is a genius!) with rhyme....all this funny money is very clever and won't buy a thing, but the words are funny and the tale is as well...."your funny bone plug our of breath...""I don't think you'll make it to Coinstar!
Best, B

[S.zaynab.kamoonpury]

A penny, i guess i could give a 100 dollars for this fantastic funny bone poem if i was rich enough. Kudos for this super poem.!


Plz also read and comment on any of my two newest poems as per your preference.

[William Michael Reeves]

Your rich laughter will cover the extra cost of my words. Supply chain issues. Short poem is due to shrinkflation. Thanks

[jacob erin-cilberto]

dollars to doughnuts....
I broke the piggy bank in my mind reading this.
humorous...yes, the coinstar will not accept wooden nickels or Canadian coins.
j.

[William Michael Reeves]

Oh man! You're giving me ideas for more verses. Whatever happened to Canadian coins? Don't see them much anymore and I'm just a couple hours away from the border. Probably take a whole roll of wooden nickels to plug the whole hole in your broken mind!