The Poetry of Monopoly

I remember the hot summer afternoon in Lubbock when we had the great neighborhood Monopoly game. It started with five or six boys, as many pieces as the standard game contained at the time, the shoe, the car, the scotty dog, the top had, the cowboy, and the iron, of course.

As such games do, this one became an eternity. Late that evening, we moved the board from somebodies driveway into their garage so there would be light to continue. In my memory, my brother wins. He lands on Free Parking and steals all of the pot cash in one fell swoop. It’s not a fair rule, but it’s one we’ve always used. (Monopoly doesn’t allow that “house” rule in tournament play.)

But honestly, I don’t remember who won. I only remember the sense of tension in the entire neighborhood all that day. Monopoly is a brutal win-lose scenario and watching the game unfold fascinated me.

I’m still fascinated by games. Believe it or not, we take the game-ness of T. S. Poetry pretty seriously. Just last night we were scowering through digital stacks of books about game theory, everything from complex mathematics (Game Theory: A Critical Introduction), philosophy (The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia), business self-help (Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life), theology (Theology Remixed), and game design theory (In Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, & Playtesting Games).

With all of the elements of a game bumping around in my head, I couldn’t resist pulling prompts from Monopoly. For better or worse, I still think of it as the great American game–embodying the good and bad of our culture.

After every game, we’d like to invite you create your own mashup poems. All you need is the list of prompts and the list of responses. 

Even if you missed the live game last night, you can still participate in this part of the game over the next two weeks!

Here’s what to do:

1. Write your mashup poems using the prompts and responses.
2. Post your poems online
3. Notify us in an @reply on twitter with a link to your poems
4. Add your link in the comments below as we’ll have an archive of the entire game.

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Marcus Goodyear

Marcus is the Director of Communications for the H. E. Butt Foundation where he's worked since 2005 in a variety of roles. He's been a leader in the organization for writing, editiorial, online advertising and marketing, and much more. His passion is helping others continually improve the quality of their work and sharing irresistible stories for the common good.

Latest posts by Marcus Goodyear (see all)

• Why I Want to Write Useless Poetry - May 19, 2011
• The Poetry of Monopoly - November 24, 2010
• Tweet Speak Sonnets - May 30, 2010