PROMPT #384 – INSTANT MILLIONAIRE

/ Poetic Bloomings

Quick question:  What would you do with an unexpected million dollars? Shower us with your poetic stash.  😉


MARIE’S MILLION

Too Much

I’m just not the lottery kind.
I don’t have a rich frame of mind.
If my stash quickly grew,
I’d just give it to … who?
Guess I’d just leave that big check unsigned.

© Marie Elena Good, 2022


WALT’S WEALTH

IF I HAD A MILLIONS DOLLARS

Money cannot buy happiness,
even the misery it buys isn't that great.
But for the sake of this debate
I'd take that million and buy a million people's dreams.
silly as it seems, I'd replace their dreams with a new reality
foregoing life's banality and offering
a better life than whatever strife they may possess;
turn their failure into great success, and I confess
I would be happy to oblige their whimsy
just to show them how flimsy their wishes would be.
Maybe they'll see that they never needed more than 
they already had. It's not that bad to have just enough.
Life is rough enough without the added burden.
It would be absurd to think otherwise.

© Walter J Wojtanik, 2022

78 thoughts on “PROMPT #384 – INSTANT MILLIONAIRE”

  2. MISERIES IN ONE DOLLAR BILLS

    What is the befuddlement about money?
    The lust of chasing refrain, items that you want to get,
    yet it fails to buy things like love, honor, respect?

    A mistake, of a million miseries in one dollar bills;
    is a room full of hot haughty steam that thrills….
    Well, heat rises to the top—evaporates, mists like a dream.

    Then it’s still.
    Very still, it seems.
    Then it stops.

    © Benjamin Thomas

  4. NOT HARD TO FIGURE

    If a whole million dollars
    washed up on the shore,
    I’d fill me a sand pail
    and look for some more.

  5. Limericks and you agree with each other, it appears, Marie. Loved that one.

  6. House with a Red Door

    I’d buy a gray-stone
    house with a red door.
    It could be down
    the street or off
    some distant place
    like a dream.
    Robins would sing
    each time I’d
    step outside,
    and sparrows
    would gather and play
    at my feet.
    I’d have a table
    in the front room,
    the one
    bought from Good Will-
    a corner chipped, one
    leg too short,
    on sale cheap
    looking for love.
    I’d sit at the table
    and write poems
    as the birds sing
    and the day starts
    revealing itself to me
    as if time itself is renewed.
    I’d put up a friend
    when he’d come into town
    for a day or a week,
    and we’d share old stories
    as new as the day awakens.
    or I’d live with the one
    I love, and each day
    we’d offer simple greetings-
    and the sound of her voice
    still sounds sweet.

  7. If I had a Million

    I try to wrap
    my head around
    a million (dollars)
    which charities
    I might gift with funds
    or even individuals
    pay off mortgages
    for the kids grub stake
    dreams move into
    another town to be
    closer to family
    put a lid on the fear
    of what might happen
    of never having enough
    those days of peeking
    under the handkerchiefs
    to see if there were any
    folded bills for something
    like food or school or just
    anything other than empty.

  8. If dollars were hugs, I’d give them all to my partner in rhyme for the outstanding work she’s done this past month providing the prompts for this wonderful garden of verse. I’ve been a bit debilitated and Marie had picked up the gauntlet and given us some incredible inspirations to which to write. A connection not made in heaven, but along the Erie shore we share. Across the lake and across the universe, she’s better than Good. She’s the best. Thank you, Pard! ❤️ Walt

    • Awwww! Thank YOU for these kind words. And I’ll take those million hugs, squeeze ’em tight, and float ’em right back to you … times two. ❤ I hope you're feeling better.

    • I am sorry that you have been out of the loop, but you are right she is a good wrangler of poetry to be sure.

    • To A Good Partner

      A good partner takes up
      where the other leaves off
      when one is out of sorts
      or is sick with a cough

      A good partner is always
      ready to take the wheel
      when the other can’t drive
      ’cause of the bad way they feel

      A good partner’s hard to find
      when you do, hang on tight
      and you’ll know a good partner
      ’cause that feeling’s just right

      So here’s to good partners
      Here’s to Walt and Marie
      and to the Bloomings Garden
      where we plant our poetry

  9. Been working on this poem for 13 years, have used a line or three in other poems in the meant. Here’s where it stands today…

    Found It

    Found some change,
    In the usual way,
    under the cushions,
    on housecleaning day.

    Received a dollar
    in the daily mail,
    please fill in the query
    about this thing that they sell.

    Got five bucks more
    from my Milwaukee sis,
    with blessings for frolics,
    no problems with this.

    Won ten at lunchtime
    at cribbage I’m hot,
    no place to spend it,
    so into the pot.

    A friend gave me twenty,
    he paid back a loan,
    I don’t really need it,
    now what have I done.

    One hundred was entered
    in my bank account,
    a reversal of charges,
    of just that amount.

    Now, if a thousand
    should slyly appear,
    I’d likely be happy,
    I might even cheer.

    But, man, with a million,
    (no taxes at that),
    I’d shake like my leased car,
    right after a flat.

    My life is too good
    to be spoiled by money,
    with wife, friends, a cat
    I’ve no need, but my honey

    might say something different,
    might jump at the luck.
    She’d know how to use it,
    with aplomb and with pluck.

    Relatives would profit
    And friends would all learn
    how generous she is
    with fortune unearned.

    Her charities likely
    would gain what they need,
    especially stray kitties,
    oh my how they’d feed.

    Our housing is perfect,
    no reason to change,
    location, location, location,
    must not rearrange.

    But Macy’s and Nordstrom’s
    And Chico’s, for sure,
    would garner new sales
    they have such allure.

    Yet after the rush
    of a bounty so vast,
    we’d come to reality,
    hopefully fast.

    There just isn’t much
    we don’t already have,
    nothing to wish for,
    nothing to crave.

    So let that big bonus
    find a home with another
    and leave us in peace,
    in love with each other.

  10. “ My name is Michael Anthony, and until his death just a few years ago, I was the executive secretary to the late John Beresford Tipton. John Beresford Tipton, a fabulously wealthy and fascinating man, whose many hobbies included his habit of giving away one million dollars, tax free, each week—to persons he had never even met.”.

    Those stories never worked out well for people like me, but I’d hire a maid.

  11. Winning the big jackpot…

    I would first be in shock…
    Fixing the house in which I live
    To a good standard,
    Would be my first step.

    I would not be hoping
    That something will break…
    I still haven’t gotten
    A new stove or a dishwasher
    Because I could go buy a new one.

    I would put money aside
    To buy iron infusions
    Whenever I get run down,
    Like I have this last week.

    I would take trips
    And pay for pet sitters
    Just to see the world
    Beyond my forest.

    I would build me a house
    That would be all my own,
    And there would be an art studio,
    An office, and a place to dance.
    Preferably in the mountains,
    And close to a river.
    No one could say
    That where I sleep
    Is not my home.

    I would find a place that I belong
    Because I never belonged…
    When Da placed a rod for my clothes
    Under his shirts…
    He said, “I can’t give you a bed
    Of your own, but I can give you
    A place to hang your clothes.
    Ma even when she laid
    Out how we would be buried…
    She forgot to put a spot for me.
    We joked about it,
    And sometimes she said,
    “I figured you
    Would die somewhere away.”

    But I don’t play the lottery…
    And the only way
    I will hit that jackpot
    Is if I get those books of mine published.

    Then I will take care of those I love,
    And those that love me,
    But first for once
    I will take care of me.

    Mary Elizabeth Todd
    May 1, 2022

  12. Not For Me

    I never buy tickets for lottery.
    If I won I’d be a nervous wreck.
    With thousands of animal charities,
    I never buy tickets for lottery.
    If I left one out, I’d feel guilty.
    Besides, I’d always be paying the check.
    I never buy tickets for lottery.
    If I won I’d be a nervous wreck.

  13. Stewardship

    A million dollars seems unending,
    but not if you’re adept at spending.
    How quickly a million would disappear,
    if you give and spend throughout the year.
    If I had a million, I hope I’d do some good
    and have wisdom to use it as I should.
    I know that happiness can’t be bought,
    but misery can come from having naught.

  14. I’ll Pass

    A million dollars would make
    my heart pound and my head spin
    with possibilities – I could buy the

    things I’ve always wanted, but I’m
    not sure what those things might be.
    I would buy world peace, if I could,

    but I’m afraid peace is something
    you can not buy – it’s something you
    must spread. I would buy clean air and water,

    if I could, but those are things you must work
    toward. I would buy natural habitats for birds
    and bees and beasts, but that is something you

    must plant. So, I think instead of a million dollars,
    I will spread and work and plant until my heart
    pounds and my head spins.

  15. Rest Home Millionaire

    If I became a millionaire
    I’d buy myself a head of hair
    Some fancy, glittery underwear
    Just in case I lost my pants

    I’d throw a party for my friends
    Give everyone packs of Depends
    To show I care ‘bout their rear ends
    If I only had the chance

    I’d buy my caretaker a car
    So she could drive me near and far
    And take me to her favorite bar
    For a round or two on me

    Then I would rent us all a bus
    Invite the staff to go with us
    I don’t think anyone would fuss
    ‘Cause all this would be free

    If I became a millionaire
    I’d show my friends how much I care
    By taking them all here and there
    ‘Cause they don’t get out much

    Then I’d invite their families
    To visit them and visit me
    So we wouldn’t feel so darn lonely
    We need that family touch

  16. I hit the jackpot

    When it came to having friends…
    I have hit the jackpot.
    They are there when I need them,
    And I try to do the same.

    They tell me when I am wrong, and
    There to comfort me when I am lost.

    I may eat soup beans, some onions,
    Cornbread and chow-chow for lunch….
    It is enough of a feast for me.

    I look at those trying to impress…
    Living the high life,
    When they fall, their followers
    Are nowhere to be found.

    I wonder if they ever take a moment
    Just to look up glad to see the sun,
    And watch the stars dance
    Across the skies…
    Does the wind blowing
    Irritate or please them?

    My life is simple.
    Money won’t change me,
    Or change how I live…
    Except I may build me an office,
    Artist space that serves as a library and
    A room to dance…
    Otherwise…

    I will be the same woman
    Who eats soup beans for lunch
    and loves the sun, and the moon…
    and likes to watch the stars dance.

    Mary Elizabeth Todd
    May 3, 2022

  17. Riches
    Earthly treasures
    The quest for them blind us
    From the truest treasure of all
    Eternal life in Heaven

  18. THE MAYOR OFFERS AN EXPLANATION

    Though you might think I’m loaded with snobbery,
    you cannot blame my riches on jobbery;
    for I got all my stash
    on a hunch, in a flash,
    when I bought me a chance at the lobbery.

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