{"id":128748,"date":"2023-09-02T11:56:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T15:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=128748"},"modified":"2023-09-02T11:56:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T15:56:37","slug":"hour-three-the-weight-of-a-dollar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/hour-three-the-weight-of-a-dollar\/","title":{"rendered":"Hour Three: The Weight of a Dollar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Weight of a Dollar<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What is the weight of a dollar? Atlas’ World was easier to carry.<\/div>\n
The patient Turtle carrying Atlas and the World had an easier task<\/div>\n
than carrying Lady Liberty on a silver dollar,<\/div>\n
L I B E R T Y is bold among the rays extending from her head<\/div>\n
likened to the images so many would see when upon first entering<\/div>\n
the harbor, gazing from afar, and then up at the guardian –<\/div>\n
no matter where the Sun was, she was illuminated and illumination.<\/div>\n
\n
From far and then coming closer, people will call out,<\/div>\n
“I see her! She’s so big against the sky! We made it! We’re here.”<\/div>\n
Still, she remains quiet with a gaze looking away.<\/div>\n
Does she hear the words? Do their tones and vibrations touch her heart?<\/div>\n
No matter what, she stays silent in return.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Tarnished from silver to sepia patinas, black shadows, and rich grays,<\/div>\n
the coin brings heft, smooth surfaces, and delicate crevices<\/div>\n
as fingers explore and discover a New World on the other side:<\/div>\n
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<\/div>\n
E PLURIBUS UNUM<\/div>\n
PEACE<\/div>\n
All are raised on this dollar’s second face with<\/div>\n
the feathered Eagle grasping an olive branch but<\/div>\n
cut and scraped with gnashed wounds from the bladed<\/div>\n
rock that has razored his wings and claws.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Lady Liberty stays silent.<\/div>\n
The Eagle is present, but his back is turned away.<\/div>\n
Young John and his sister Berneice<\/div>\n
dreamt of seeing these two proud figures welcome them to a new home.<\/div>\n
In 1951, they took turns holding this coin from 1922 on their long voyage.<\/div>\n
As a “Peace Dollar” it chronicled years of prosperity for some countries, but<\/div>\n
certainly not for these two children who’d spent childhood years in invaded Poland,<\/div>\n
war-torn refugee camps, places of in-between for years longer than the war itself.<\/div>\n
Still, dreams were fresh in their hearts, just like the eager anticipation of silky chocolates,<\/div>\n
\u00a0tart apples, sweet tomatoes, and rich pumpkins of this New World.<\/div>\n
Back and forth they passed this heavy coin, growing stronger each time they held it,<\/div>\n
for these dreams certainly grew lighter as reality became brighter with each mile.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Such a reality was heavy with despair for Svetlana, their mother.<\/div>\n
This New World was not hers. Lady Liberty was remote; the Eagle, a vulture.<\/div>\n
What is the weight of a dollar?<\/div>\n
For her it cost the farm, the chickens Berniece tended, the rabbit Johnny loved.<\/div>\n
It cost her little Stephanie who had cared so earnestly for the two youngest.<\/div>\n
It cost her Frank and her husband, John.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
4. Use one example of synaesthesia (mixing the senses).<\/div>\n
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.<\/div>\n
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.<\/div>\n
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.<\/div>\n
8. Use a word (slang?) you\u2019ve never seen in a poem.<\/div>\n
9. Use a piece of false cause-and-effect logic.<\/div>\n
10. Use a piece of \u201ctalk\u201d you\u2019ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and\/or which you don\u2019t understand).<\/div>\n
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: \u201cThe (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun)\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.<\/div>\n
13. Make the persona or character in the poem do something he\/she could not do in \u201creal life.\u201d<\/div>\n
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.<\/div>\n
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.<\/div>\n
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.<\/div>\n
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but finally makes no sense.<\/div>\n
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.<\/div>\n
19. Make a nonhuman object say or do something human (personification).<\/div>\n
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement but that \u201cechoes\u201d an image from earlier in the poem.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The Weight of a Dollar What is the weight of a dollar? Atlas’ World was easier to carry. The patient Turtle carrying Atlas and the World had an easier task than carrying Lady Liberty on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129393,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128748\/revisions\/129393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}