13.25php

13.25php

I had a tiny coin purse, 

and one lazy day,

counted the coins: 

13 pesos and 25 centavos.

Thirteen silver coins with 

a tiny yellow bit--indignant 

to still be called a coin,

tacked one by one onto my hands.

Silver as it seemed, was not at all.

And lo, money stripped more than
the universality of chronological value         
        when they invented centavos. 

A man once bought a house for 1 peso.

        Another bought a man's life for 25 centavos.

Tell me: What can I do with 13 pesos 
         and 25 centavos? Can I buy a dream?

A car? A toy car? A knife? A bread? A bird?

Can I buy my brother a bird?
How much do I have to pay for 

13 pesos and 25 centavos?

An inch of skin, perhaps 8, a staff of

ticks and tocks from what I have left

and perhaps, just perhaps, I can earn more than

13 pesos and 25 centavos, noh?

It has been always like this. 

Has there been a hole all along?

December 27, 2019

I hope the new year allows us to open doors for those who have been shut.