L'aura del Campo

What one-hundred dollars buys (Dew Drop Inn #15) [33]

What one-hundred dollars buys

One red One-hundred dollar bill:
enough to buy beef noodles,
two oven-baked pepper cakes,
a train ride to somewhere near.

Money helps—even here;
but, where smiles reign,
a handshake, a friendly face,
true coins-of-the-realm.

Yet, the face of Sun Yat-sen,
"The Chapter of Great Harmony",
Confucius and a mei flower
open keys to night markets.

Or parks where horny people
prowl, eyes diverted or boldly
met to welcome prospective
surcease from their loneliness.

Red flashes from receding cars,
a building's ruby neon sign;
red bills won't buy sex. Kisses yes.
No one charges for blow jobs.

© Kåre Enga (15.april.2017) [174.33]

Notes: Dew Drop Inn #15. Prompt was 'money'.
100 NT$ (red, the basic bill used in Taiwan) = ~ $3.10.