What an appropriate topic for today! Tomorrow we will find the first of our new coins in our change. New Zealand has some of the largest and heaviest coins in the world. Our ten, twenty and fifty cent pieces are being replaced with smaller and lighter coins. Five cent pieces are being removed from circulation as being too small to be of value, with inflation. One and two cent coins went the same way some years ago. We have one and two dollar coins now, replacing bank notes. The smallest bank note is a five dollar coin. I have old coins in a tin - pre-decimal currency pennies and even halfpennies, one penny dating back to 1889. One and two cent pieces, no longer of any value. Soon the five cent pieces will join them (the ones that I don't remember to spend or put in a donation box first). So, I penned this little poem in honour of our departing coints (with a nod to the other meaning of "my two cents")
For What It’s Worth
My two cents
aren't worth what they used to be
no longer legal tender
I keep them in a tin
with paperclips and stray buttons.
I offer my two cents to young girls
“Yeah – what –ev-er” they say,
rolling their eyes
my purse grows heavy and fat
with twenties and fifties
soon my five cents
won’t be worth anything, either
I add them to the tin
with the paperclips, the buttons
the copper coins
and a piece of old string.
More Sunday Scribblings here
Sunday, July 30, 2006
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12 comments:
Every so often I just HAVE to clear the change out of my bag, or it weighs about ten pounds!! I can't imagine what it would be like if our coins were actually heavy.
Cute poem, too!!
Here via michele...
Huh, the 5 cents gone too? We still have our pennies. No coin for $5 yet.
Nice poem too.
i like the way you've written this - esp the 'whatever'! Perfectly intoned!
Wonderful poem! And I agree with CB...I could hear that "whatever" in my head - perfect!
I keep wondering when some of our paper money will switch over to coins. They've talked about it for years, but haven't done it yet.
Amazing that they just take those coins off the market, so to speak...I think our penny may soon go that way, too! I guess, eventually they will be considered "Collector's items" huh?
Here from Michele tonight!
re: your blog visit and question about Hawaiian-themed art.
My parents moved to Maui when I was two years old in 1968. I lived there until I graduated high school. I consider myself a Hawaiian islander. The culture and spirit of Aloha is deeply ingrained within me and will always be a very important part of my life.
Aloha,
Shane
Very clever and timely post. The small euro coins (one and two centimes) and just useless. All those coins weigh too much and I don't like small coins, so they tend to accumulate in my wallet. Every couple of days I dump them in a desk drawer or put them in my husband's coin bowl, as he doesn't mind counting out the small coins. But carrying them around makes holes in his pockets! :)
My two cents are that your poem made me smile. :-)
Loved your poem. Your response from the teens gave a big smile...what could we possibly have to share that would matter to them?
what perfect timing for such a post.
we changed many of our motes to coins over in engalnd a while ago and i didn't like it at first.
actually i still find it rather annoying when you're weighed down by all these coins.
i really like the poem. how strange that these coins which are worth something today can be discarded with the bits of old string tomorrow.
:)
I was just in Australia, and was amazed by the money, paper and coinage. Very heavy, to an american hand, and the paper bills are so colorful.
I liked your poem very much. Very well penned.
Thanks for expanding my consciousness beyond US money. It's kind of sad to see money deemed as useless only to end up in a among paperclips and buttons...
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