Ode To The TD Bank
(On asking for my first small loan)

John Oughton
From:   Counting Out the Millennium. San Antonio, Texas: Pecan Grove Press, 1997.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

I have lived at the same address so long
That mail is slid through my mouth
And strangers grasp my hand to open
The door. Although I remain unmarried
All women work for me and offer up
Their assets. The stars of the sky
I keep as jewels in my eye's vault.
I sleep in stocks and drink nothing
But bonded.

In fact limestone banks
Chase me along the street trailing tapes
And begging for my magic valve kiss
To release the pressure of their
Respectability. Most of all
I ask for money because I do not
Even remotely need it, but only intend
To honour that minor art form
The won loan
Which holds up all Bay Street.

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6

John Oughton's works copyright © to the author.