The Friday Influence

Remember, words are the enemy of poetry.
– Russell Edson

Sometimes what’s being said has little to do with the words saying it.

This week’s piece – “Pennies” by Wolfgang Wright – is a flash fiction that develops its emotional pull subtly. The word “pennies” gathers weight throughout the short piece until it literally comes alive.

*Pennies – Wolfgang Wright

When the boy began collecting pennies in order to build a statue of his departed mother, Penny, his father did not object. When the father decided to join him, adding pennies from his collection, his friends implored him to see a psychiatrist. When the friends brought over glue to hold the statue together, they told their wives that they were going to watch the game. And when, together, they finished the statue and it came to life, sounding and behaving just like the mother, wife, and friend who was dead, they all knew that what they had done was good.

(* found in the Nostalgia issue of 5×5 – check out the rest of the issue here.)

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Quick sidenote: Much of the fun I have writing this blog comes out of finding relevant images to juxtapose with the pieces. Here’s one I found fascinating and that kinda works as its own art piece. It’s a British coin from during the Suffragette movement era:

Happy pennying!

Jose