Zero

Now that legal tender has
              lost its tenderness,
and its very legality
          is so often in question,
it may be time to consider
the zero—
          long rows of them,
    empty, black circles in clumps
                          of three,
presided over by a numeral
                       or two.
Admired, even revered,
these zeros
          of imaginary money
capture
   the open gaze of innocents

like a vision of earthly paradise.

Now the zero has
a new name:
               The Economy.

As for that earthly
                paradise—well...