What if you could explain economics and finance in the form of a poem? Jess Walter writes about exactly that in “The Financial Lives of the PoetsImage may be NSFW.
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," a novel that centers on a journalist who gives up newspaper work to offer online financial advice in free verse. The book comes out in paperback this month, just in time for the two-year anniversary of the financial crash that led to the current economic recession.
Jess tells us about the economy, poetry, and whether there's anything that's too awful to smile about or turn into a haiku.
Meanwhile, we're asking you: Send us your haikus about the economy. It can be anything about the recession, the recovery, the stimulus, your personal situation or the president's policies. Just remember the 5-7-5 form: five syllables, then seven syllables, then five syllables. We'll read the best ones on the air with Jess.
Text us yours to 69866 with the word TAKE, or call it in to 877-8-MY-TAKE.
Here are two to get you started (one is Jess's, one is ours):
The market collapsed.
The economy suffered.
We are still reeling.
Is it possible
that my long-lost lapsed lender
has contacted me?
Here are some we've gotten on Facebook and via text:
We sought too much.
We strove for everything
We remembered nothing.
—Michael Few
Gray on gray, storms build.
The tower kept calling us.
Still we flew away.
—Steven Parker
Bought House This Decade
For Last Eight Years Payments Made
Equity Gone, Can't Sell Now
—Kevin Stebleton
Text messages:
Economy: wreck
people are living in fear
fringe groups reign supreme
—Natasha, Miami, Fla.
I want sustenance,
just food clothing and shelter,
then i'll be happy.
—Gary Fowler, Chandler, Okla.
Unscathed I sit
warm For my brethren
I cry Soon I may join them
—Jonathan, Columbia, S.C.
Green, fibrous cash
gets spent quicker than it's made.
I need more of it!
—Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
I have no money.
I want some, give me a job.
Saving is futile.
—Tamara, Baltimore, Md.