Daily Poem Entries

G. Raymond's Burden

G. Raymond’s Burden

George Waddington Ernesto Raymond,
or, to his friends, G. Raymond
(for reasons unknown never called George),
had no credit card. A sad affair,
given the many times his name
appears on the slivers of plastic
plastered on the billboards of Canadian life,
the irony being that G. Raymond once,
in the flush and enthusiasm of youth,
submitted an application for a card
and was rejected, reason withheld.
This summary shunning struck at his core,
humiliation now his constant companion,
hammered the deeper with each transaction
conducted by cash or cheque.
The additional insult, added within days
of the denial of his pass to the highlands
of consumer spending and, faced with a bill
for a meal with friends, the right to say,
“Don’t worry, I’ll get it,” while flashing
the coveted ticket to freedom,
of the advertisers’ choice of his name
for the photos of their silvered
or gold-plated product,
the banker’s endorsement,
regardless of reality,
of their support for the finances
of some fellow named Raymond,
G. of that name - one, we may assume,
had the full confidence of said financiers,
considering the card that assures us so.

Poor G. Raymond, he buckles
under the weight of these taunts.
A shadow of the fine being we once knew,
he fades away, seeking the obscurity
of no one knowing his name.
Rough justice must surely be
(experience says it can happen)
that a financial crash destroy those banks
and leave our hero the last man standing.


Line Count: 40
Free Verse
For The Daily Poem, July 25 2020
Prompt: Write either the lament of G. Raymond, or the exaltation of G. Raymond. Your choice.