.

Ponzi

Your promises mean nothing if they lack
fidelity.  It grieves a man to hear
such welcome words, then have them taken back
without the least regret before a year
has passed.  I thought our future was secure,
but that just shows me what a fool I’ve been—
I hadn’t met the likes of you before,
which might explain how I was taken in.

You did not say you were my honeybee
or whisper secrets while we shared a cup,
but when you sold me on your money tree
I never dreamed I’d see it belly-up.
You offered hope of vast financial gain,
but naught to cope with loss or soften pain.

.

.

C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden.  Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Australia and India.  His collection, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder was published in 2013 by White Violet Press.

NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets.

The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


Trending now:

26 Responses

    • C.B. Anderson

      Pardon me, Wayne, but I’m sure that this a reference to some folk or literary wisdom that has flown over my head. Would you care to explain?

      Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    When you look at the incompetent woke idiots who ran SVB, it becomes clear that collapse was inevitable.

    Never put your money into the hands of people whose primary motivation is some Moral Imperative about “saving the planet” or “healing social wrongs.”

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      And the bank regulators whose job it is to look out for this kind of thing were obviously asleep at the wheel, which is just another example of the trickle-down theory, given the corrupt boob who is now our head of state. Incompetence is now the new normal. I hope thing will change before we are all ruined.

      Reply
  3. Mike Bryant

    Now I’m going to have to put my Bank Collapse decorations up alongside my WWIII decorations. It’s getting a little crowded in my front yard.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      Crowded your front yard may be, but for some I’ll bet it is the pride of the neighborhood. After all, all your neighbors are Texans. The pity is that you and I must foot the bill for the bail-out, and it’s money we don’t have.

      Reply
      • Mike Bryant

        Agreed. We are tapped out… by design. The Cloward-Pivin Strategy has been successfully implemented into every government function.
        The four steps of the Cloward-Piven Strategy:

        1) Overload and Break the Welfare (and every other) System
        2) Have Chaos Ensue
        3) Take Control in the Chaos
        4) Implement Socialism and Communism through Government Force

  4. Roy Eugene Peterson

    I just knew someone would write a perfect poem about SVB and bank failures. The title, “Ponzi,” itself, is the crowning pièce de résistance. My only care is for the unwary depositors who did not know about the unwarranted risks the bank was taking and the bets they placed on the dark side of finance.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      The funny thing, Roy, is that this poem was written many years ago before any of this happened. It was Evan who made the connection to the present. Apparently the depositors will be protected, but it’s going to come out of the wallets of dupes like you and me.

      Reply
  5. Sally Cook

    Thanks Kip, for once more joining in the fight to save civilization. What next? Our world is crumbling and our leaders are happily leading us over the cliff.
    SCP is a fine place of refuge.

    I always look forward to your work.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      I am not trying to save civilization, Sally. Civilization as we have known it is on its last legs. I only hope that there will be something left of it for my grandchildren to thrive in. I trust that persons such as you and I and others will continue fighting to ensure this end is an actual possibility, but the future is somewhat cloudy. The lemming-masters have plans to undermine any attempt to restore sanity, and doom is their fondest desire. I rely on you to hold the line, to fill the breach, as long as you draw breath, and I am with you all the way.

      Reply
  6. Cynthia Erlandson

    Very well and succinctly stated. “Honeybee / money tree” is perfect.

    Reply
    • C,B. Anderson

      Thank you, Cynthia. It has been said before that money doesn’t grow on trees, and I’m certain that you took that into consideration.

      It’s far better to rhyme
      Than to commit a crime.

      Reply
  7. Paul Freeman

    It’s heartbreaking when these Ponzi schemes pop up in the poorer nations, and with a large helping of hope folk ‘invest’ the little they have and lose it.

    Mind you, wasn’t that what Madoff did in America – ‘made off’ with everyone’s dosh?

    Thanks for the timely reminder that not all banks are run by James Stewart in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      Did you ever get a chain letter claiming that your profits would double every time you sent a check to the sender of such a letter? Pyramid schemes are not new, and to some extent every scheme devised by our “wise” rulers falls into that category.

      Reply
      • Paul Freeman

        When I was a kid we would occasionally get chain letters threatening us with bad luck if we broke the chain. Who knows what the purpose of that was except to scare little kids poo-less.

    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Yeah, Madoff stole several billions of dollars from investors. And he also donated a great deal of that money to Democrats and the Democrat Party. But enjoying stolen cash seems to be a well-established Democrat habit.

      Reply
      • Paul Freeman

        And his wife got to keep the chateau in France as I recall.

  8. Brian A Yapko

    C.B., this poem is, of course, extremely timely (even though it was not written for current events.) But it is also a deeply satisfying play on a romance gone sour with infidelity. “Your promises” “our future” the “whispered secrets” the “honeybee” term of endearment… all this “relationship language” is structured into a sonnet form perfect to express the broken heart of a disappointed lover. “Fidelity” is an interesting word which has both intimate and institutional associations. We expect it equally from our romantic partners and from our banks.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      I hadn’t realized the possible double meaning until you mentioned it. But it would be easy to “fall in love” with someone who promised us quick access to wealth. Well, fuck the banks, and the same with our romantic partners (in line with our proclivity toward double meanings).

      Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      You know, Stephen, many of us have a hard time believing that the universe as we observe it was created by a series of random events. However, I must ask you to believe that, to some extent, many of my poems are created in just that way. I rarely start with a plan, and mostly just with an idea as a starting point. The rest just develops organically without much oversight.

      Reply
  10. Cheryl Corey

    The word “fidelity” immediately brought to mind the fiduciary duty that a banking institution is supposed to have. No matter how the regime tries to spin it, what they did was a crony capitalism bailout for wealthy Democrat donors and their pet causes. The rest of us will pay through higher bank fees and inflation. We should worry about any government push for digital currency. If that ever came to pass, we’d be China with a social credit system and be nothing more than serfs. I could go on and on, C.B., but I’ll stop here.

    Reply
  11. C.B. Anderson

    Yes, Cheryl, and it happens that I have an account with Fidelity. I wish you would go on and on, and not stop there, because you have already put your finger on a number of key concerns.

    Reply
  12. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    C.B., this spot-on sonnet comes straight to the point and says it like it is with the sort of poetic aplomb that draws me in… I especially like:

    You did not say you were my honeybee
    or whisper secrets while we shared a cup,
    but when you sold me on your money tree
    I never dreamed I’d see it belly-up.

    These glorious words made me grin in the midst of such tragic circumstances, and for that I thank you.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      You are especially welcome, and I am especially thankful for your incisive comment. What a world we live in! The silver lining, for me, is that you live in it, too.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.