Sunday, March 30, 2008

"Money" by Victor Contoski along with Analysis

"Money" by Victor Contoski

At first it will seem tame,
willing to be domesticated.

It will nest
in your pocket
or curl up in a corner
reciting softly to itself
the names of the presidents.

It will delight your friends,
shake hands with men
like a dog and lick
the legs of women.

But like an amoeba
it makes love
in secret
only to itself.

Fold it frequently;
it needs exercise.

Water it every three days
and it will repay you
with displays of affection.

Then one day when you think
you are its master
it will turn its head
as if for a kiss
and bite you gently
on the hand.

There will be no pain
but in thirty seconds
the poison will reach your heart.



Victor Contoski’s poem, “Money”, uses dark and cynical humor to set up his last stanza about greed. The speaker is addressing the audience, using the pronoun you. You provides the poem with a casual yet direct message to the reader. The speaker is not identified, but it seems that this person is able to describe money as a living thing that ultimately destroys because he/she has experienced what money can, or as used in the poem, “will” do. The word will is one example of the significance of Contoski’s use of diction. He uses the word will to tell the audience what will happen, not what may happen; there is no escape from this foretold fate: “There will be no pain/ but in thirty seconds/ the poison will reach your heart,” (27-29). Another important word that shows the importance of Contoski’s diction is “it”. It describes money as a parasite that “will nest/ in your pocket,” (3-4) and later “when you think/ you are its master/ it will turn its head/ as if for a kiss/ and bite you gently/ on the hand,” (21-26). The speaker is warning the audience that money is controlling, it has no master. You can do all you want for it, and it may seem as though to reward you, but in the end, you will inevitably learn of how it uses you as a host in a relationship when you all too late realize that your life was wasted for something that could never return the amount of effort, commitment, and caring you put into it. The repetition of you, will, and it all contribute to Contoski’s use of visual imagery. The reader can imagine crumpled dollars inhabiting someone’s pocket, almost like a pet being cared for.
I personally enjoyed this poem for its descriptive language and overall message. I agree that focusing primarily on money instead of the truly valuable things in life will leave a greedy person empty. I also appreciate Contoski’s way of bringing money to life and how it brews greed in people. Contoski’s overall message of how money has no master is very intriguing and true as well.

2 comments:

allen said...

I agree. I like how the author personifies money and shows how it will eventually take controll. I liked it because of how true this poem is with so many people. They think that money wont affect them, but it almost always does.

Mr. Klimas said...

simile, metaphor?