Sure I Was Payed Well

but the money felt
like a thick stack of bills
had been folded once and crammed in my open mouth

so what I wanted to say
was blocked, or at the very least garbled
by the wad of dollars

and my jaws ached
with the strain of being held apart
by the cash. Though I tried to dress well

I wasn’t sure if people on the street
mocked me behind my back
for being so funny looking

with a mouth stuffed with currency.
Or maybe they didn’t see me at all
but only saw the clump of bills

that presed down on my tongue.
When I sought out others payed a smuch as me
I found myself calculating how thick

their gag of dollars was compared to mine. In any case
it was difficult to talk about the experience we had in common

since their words were hard to distinguish
through the money. And I confess
I was afraid to stick my fingers in behind

and lever the currency out; I was fearful of
what was dammed up
behind that cash,

of what the absence of those dollars
would release. And I was anxious
that the wad of money

would turn out to be an illusion:
a few genuine bills on the outside of the roll
and the rest only paper,

paper.

- Tom Wayman