The Final Decree

2008 Winning Poem

The Final Decree
By Joanne Graham

Depression. It’s raining. My team hasn’t scored.
There’s nothing on TV. I’m restless. I’m bored.
Pull out the plastic, like a well-timed punch,
In the tight-fisted clench of the “Credit Crunch.”
Retail therapy. What a glorious feeling.
Spending money, not mine. Does that count as stealing?

How did I get here? What’s the lender called?
Some signing. Some chip-pin. Snow balling. Snowballed.
Smacked in the face, I’m ice-packed and trodden,
And my purse is empty and dirty and sodden.

More fuel on the fire! I need to keep warm!
I’ll bury my head and weather the storm…
Raise my credit limit higher, for that extra assurance!
But storm damage isn’t covered on the house insurance.

So I’ll borrow more money that I can’t pay back,
And wait for the train with my neck on the track.
“I’ll soon clear the debt!” says the optimist, believer,
A year later, I marry the Official Receiver.

I now put the named brands back on the shelf.
Saved some money. Saved myself.
Divorced my bad habits. The final decree:
Re-educated, realistic and, one day, debt free.