Poetry

Reuters photo

By

Howard Debs

The Thimble Is Gone, What Next?

Monopoly’s thimble token

is gone, removed from its

station as an original piece

by 4 million misinformed

votes of citizens without

respect for the value of

institutions, those who do not

recognize the merits of

retaining the pillars of

a game synonymous

with life itself; they

do not know that

the thimble is a symbol;

because they have not

taken time or do not care

to learn the history of this

hoary tiny shield which

provides a much needed

mantle of protection for

it guides the needle while

guarding the thumb,

in its time it served

other honorable purposes

as well, to measure spirits,

and gunpowder, for which

“just a thimbleful” would do;

over time thimbles attained

great value, a Meissen porcelain

version once brought $18,000 at a

Christie’s auction, and in time of

war in England those who could

give nothing more donated their

silver thimbles which were melted

down for other valiant purposes,

the game’s thimble should be

venerated and upheld, not dispatched—

consider if we denigrated

other bulwarks of society in

like fashion, think about

the consequences

which could be wrought by

a similar plebiscite of ignorance.

Howard Debs

Howard Richard Debs is a finalist and recipient of the 28th Annual 2015 Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Awards. His essays, fiction, and poetry appear internationally in numerous publications. His full length work Gallery: A Collection of Pictures and Words, Scarlet Leaf Publishing, is forthcoming in mid 2017.