{"id":130,"date":"2026-04-07T21:50:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/?page_id=130"},"modified":"2026-05-01T18:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:49:34","slug":"the-rite-of-greed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/the-rite-of-greed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rite of Greed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zumwalt<\/span><\/p>\n

The cold —-<\/span><\/p>\n

morning —<\/span><\/p>\n

bell —-<\/span><\/p>\n

SCREAMS \/*!\/*!\/*!\/*!<\/span><\/p>\n

Green — Red<\/span><\/p>\n

Green — Red<\/span><\/p>\n

Green — Green — Green — Red<\/span><\/p>\n

Red — Red — Red, Red<\/span><\/p>\n

Green!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Green!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy-Buy-Buy<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell —- Sell –Buy-Sell!<\/span><\/p>\n

$Buy!!!!$ $$ Buy$$$ Buy$$$$<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell! Sell! Se!!!!ll<\/span><\/p>\n

Keen :: Keen :: Keen<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunger! Schemes!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Unrelenting<\/span><\/p>\n

Human!<\/span><\/p>\n

Machine!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

The soft harsh morning<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

exposes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

raw nervous thoughts,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

doubts,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

debt<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

while dreams unfold and are flooded into the distance<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

one dream enveloping<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

another<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The trap!<\/span><\/p>\n

is set!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

The wire is!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

lit!!! lit!!! lit*lit*lit!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t —<\/span><\/p>\n

quit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t<\/span><\/p>\n

quit. quit. quit.<\/span><\/p>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

..<\/span><\/p>\n

…<\/span><\/p>\n

..<\/span><\/p>\n

..<\/span><\/p>\n

… !<\/span><\/p>\n

SELL NOW!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

The noise of the silent ticker<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

exposes,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

expresses<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

flickers<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

raw nerves,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

thinned thoughts,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

doubts,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

regret<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

whittled dreams enfold and flood other dreams<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

one dream emerging<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

another<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Tick<\/span><\/p>\n

Tick<\/span><\/p>\n

Tick, tick, tick tick \u2013 tick tick tick<\/span><\/p>\n

tick!<\/span><\/p>\n

Greed!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Gain—<\/span><\/p>\n

Gain Gain<\/span><\/p>\n

Loss Loss Gain Loss<\/span><\/p>\n

Greed!!! Greed! Greed!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Long Call!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop Loss!<\/span><\/p>\n

Put Put $$ Put, Put! Put$$, Put! Put! Put! PUT$$<\/span><\/p>\n

Put, Covered, Na-ked<\/span><\/p>\n

Na-ked! Na-ked — Na-ked !! — Naked Call, Na-ked Put!<\/span><\/p>\n

Covered Call!<\/span><\/p>\n

Feed this Greed!<\/span><\/p>\n

Feed!<\/span><\/p>\n

Spread!<\/span><\/p>\n

Bear Call! Bear Put!<\/span><\/p>\n

Verti-cal! Verti-cal!<\/span><\/p>\n

Short Straa\u2014DELL!<\/span><\/p>\n

Short, Short — Long!<\/span><\/p>\n

Greed! Stran-gle<\/span><\/p>\n

Short — Short Short Strang-le$!$!<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow the trend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

the trend is the friend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

until the end of the trend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

upends the trend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

which tends to be the<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

trend to tend until the end<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ends the trend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

until then<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow the trend<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

until the trend is upended!!!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

On Off<\/span><\/p>\n

On, off, off,<\/span><\/p>\n

on, on — on! on!<\/span><\/p>\n

Iron Butterfly<\/span><\/p>\n

Iron Condor<\/span><\/p>\n

Strap! Strap!<\/span><\/p>\n

Strip — Strip — Strip<\/span><\/p>\n

Strip,Strip, Strrrr….<\/span><\/p>\n

Double Diagonal<\/span><\/p>\n

Forward! Back<\/span><\/p>\n

Reverse<\/span><\/p>\n

Reverse Jade Lizard<\/span><\/p>\n

the jagged,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

twitching<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

spine of<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

the profit<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

curve,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

digital<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

currency<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

the speculative god!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

served, catered<\/span><\/p>\n

kow tow — kow tow<\/span><\/p>\n

\u53e9\u5934) \u53e9\u5934) \u53e9\u5934) \u53e9\u5934<\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign Exchange!<\/span><\/p>\n

Loss Loss<\/span><\/p>\n

Gain Loss Gain!!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

A hurricane of<\/span><\/p>\n

gain<\/span><\/p>\n

gain,<\/span><\/p>\n

again,<\/span><\/p>\n

gain, gain<\/span><\/p>\n

brutal<\/span><\/p>\n

brutal rain<\/span><\/p>\n

over France!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Spain!!!!!!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s plain!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sell – sell – SELL _ SELL!! SELL!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Hold. Hold<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy<\/span><\/p>\n

No No NO! NO!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Fold. Fold Fold!!<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so, so, so sold!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Dread blooms,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

a sea of silent<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

red in<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

secluded<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

sacred rooms.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The chart concedes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

the ticker bleeds!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ALL LOST!<\/span><\/p>\n

LOST!!! LOST!!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Seductive value<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

plummets from its summit,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

numbers stripped,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ripped,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

the future dreamed becomes unseen,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

a trail of leading zeroes on some screen.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Sacrifice! Sacrifice!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

SACRIFICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Twitch, glitch?<\/span><\/p>\n

Make the pitch!<\/span><\/p>\n

Tactical Switch!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich! Rich!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich\/Rich\/Rich!<\/span><\/p>\n

RITCCCCHHHH!!!!%%%###$$$$$$<\/span><\/p>\n

$$$$$$<\/span><\/p>\n

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$<\/span><\/p>\n

The closing bell,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

all is still<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

this final deadly calm.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The whispered psalm<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

for the fallen stretched palm.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Your palm?<\/span><\/p>\n

My palm?<\/span><\/p>\n

All palms<\/span><\/p>\n

All gone?<\/span><\/p>\n

No qualms?<\/span><\/p>\n

We shutter our doors<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

guarding our trading floor<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Those that want<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

and others must<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

do without.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Sarah sleeps silently<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

finally off her swollen feet<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

in some dark, damp, dingy retreat<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

wrapped in newsprint<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

and a single grimy, dirt-stained sheet<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

no dreams of waking up tomorrow<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

rich<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

well-off<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

or even getting by<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

she will again<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

be unprotected<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

as alone she faces<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

hardship on some<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

empty walled-off street.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zumwalt The cold —- morning — bell —- SCREAMS \/*!\/*!\/*!\/*! Green — Red Green — Red Green — Green — Green — Red Red — Red — Red, Red Green!!! Green!!! Buy-Buy-Buy Sell —- Sell –Buy-Sell! $Buy!!!!$ $$ Buy$$$ Buy$$$$ Sell! Sell! Se!!!!ll Keen :: Keen :: Keen Hunger! Schemes!!! Unrelenting Human! Machine!!!! The soft… <\/p>\n

Read more The Rite of Greed<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-130","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions\/392"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}