Forum Post: Poem for the Cause

Hi, here is a poem I wrote that appeared in Gloomcupboard in June 2011. Best of luck and keep up the good work--Lara Dolphin

“Daily I Fall out of Love with Investment Bankers” in response to Daily I Fall in Love with Mechanics by Susan Thurston and Daily I Fall in Love with Waitresses by Elliot Fried---Gloomcupboard June 2011

Daily I fall out of love with investment bankers with their vanity license plates 2BG2FAIL MNYNPWR HOTSTOK and fat rubber tires. I hate how they bend over numbers massaging their internal models. Their hand-tailored Italian suits jockey behind Chinese walls like ginned up bulls hang around the financial district— shards of broken dreams. I feel their hard money primed with a steady stream of funds slide over me. Their hands lithe and subtle keep moving so . . . misdirecting and pilfering so unnoticeably that I am left insensible, defenseless. Daily I fall out of love with investment bankers with their scheming quant buddies. They sell secrets in the backroom and I want them. I don’t know them. They tranche securities their legs triple-A-rated prime. They have spouses or lovers or hookers or all. They are off-balance-sheet smug -- they know how naked credit default swaps work. Their unnaturally white smiles distract you from the fine print. Daily I fall out of love with investment bankers They buy you steak and get you drunk but they never see you safely home as they take the money and run run run.