Change - Sept 4 2022

 

Change

Sept 4 2022

Loose change.

The orphaned coins

rattling around

the hard plastic cup

in the centre console.

“Change” —

to alter, modify, replace.

The thing I resist

and even fear.

But nickels and dimes?

As if words

were in short supply

and we needed to double up.

As if breaking a fiver

was like a first date,

and equally rife

with trepidation.

And then

there is change for the sake of change;

jangling in your pants

as you whistle a tune,

placed on the tracks

'til the train has passed.

Magnanimously tossed

into the busker's hat,

hoarded in a piggy bank.

Which I broke

to buy her flowers

when I asked her out.

The sacrificial pig

left in shards,

the stuff of childhood

left behind.

Loose change

and rites of passage.

The flip of a coin.

Taking yes for an answer.

I set out to write something on fear of change. The duality of the word itself immediately struck me, and I thought I'd play around with it and see where it went. A refreshing departure from my usual linear and rather densely worded style.