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 Wall Street Poet
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Satirical Verse

Murder At Bernstein's by Michael Silverstein

Fifteen Feet Beneath Manhattan by Michael Silverstein

the Bellman's Revenge

The Chronicles Of Selig Cartwright, Goldman Sachs Washroom Attendant: Volume I

A Dyspeptic's Guide To Contemporary American Politics (In Verse)

"Nowadays, you can't turn on the TV without some talking head telling you about the economy. Yet, in a world overrun by 'analysts,' only one man has the guts, the brains, and, quite frankly, the poetry to put it all in perspective.That man is Michael Silverstein... Silverstein is a true intellectual." — Gersh Kuntzman, The New York Post
"Few people have found much to laugh about in the stock market this year. Michael Silverstein is the exception. The Bard of the Bourse can find humor in losing money, globalization and stock options." — USA Today
More Of What The Critics Are Saying
About Silverstein's Verse

 
Dyspecptic's Guide to Contemporary Politics art
The Big Data Poem
A Food Brood
Taking A Summer
Break From It All
State Of Our Politics
Report — In Limericks
Global Warming
The Work To Be
Poor Poem
The Washington
Numbers Scam
Combating Terrorism
Fair And Balanced
Beltway Budgeting
Bernankemandias
Resistance Is Fu-tile
Farewell To The
Democratic Party
I Wanna Live
In Bernanke World
Drone Revenue Enhancement Alert
Davos Dreaming
A Better Income
Pie Allocation
Bidding Karzai
And Crew An Adieu
The People Versus
The Pols Poem
A Tea Party So-Long Song
The Quantitative Easing Poem
The Gerrymandering Poem
Grover Norquist
Nursery Rhymes
A Biblical Politics Critique
The China Conundrum
The Secret Of Life Poem
The Importance Of
Delivering On Promises
A Riff On A Cliff
The Tea Party Fade Poem
Republican Alpha And
Beta Economics
The Education Gamble Poem
About Conventions
The Medicare Debate Poem
The Markets' Rendezvous
With Truth
Save The Banks? Why Do We Bother?
Tough Love Poem
My Market Meltdown Fears
Political Conversation — American Style
Governor Mitt Romney's Song
The Drone Poem
America's New Immigration Policy
Comes Springtime, And
The Breathing Gets Wheezy
And Then They
Come For You
Supreme Court
Takes Up Health Care
Anorexia Cures Obesity
The Marketing
Security Complex Poem
The SuperPAC Poem
America's New Horatio
Alger Success Story
A Modest 2012 Wish
I Dreamed I Saw
Ayn Rand Last Night
The Campaign Season Populist
A Potential Third Party
Candidate Steps Back
Employment Tips From
Republican Candidates
A Political Field
of Bad Dreams
Where The Stock
Market Is Headed
Bankin' Fees
I'm Hopin' For A Tobin
Where We're Headed
Nervous Old
Guard Republicans
The Old Environment Or
Economy False Choice
The Great Social Security Scam
My Rick Perry Fears
Fees And Fines
Instead Of Taxes
The Great Market Plunge
A Tea Party
House Rep's Lament
The Saner Budget Fix
Old Folks Power
They'll Do It My Way
Whither Goest
The U.S. Economy?
The Economic Boom
That Wasn't
Three possible ways to address
the debt ceiling challenge
(Explained as limericks)
Aging Politics
Gunga Ben
The Shaky Currencies Poem
Progressives At The Bat
The Bundler Poem
Who Really Caused The Recession?
Republican 2012 Hopeful
Haikus
The Bank Fees Poem
Ascending The
Economic Guru Ladder
Who Delivers On
Promises, Who Doesn't
Shared Sacrifice - American Style
Economic And
Political Reality
The Health Cost Merry-Go-Round
On Civility
The Regulators
Made Them Do It
About That New Obama Economic Team
The New Third Rail
The No Inflation Poem
Revenge Of The Sanctimonious
The War On The Poor
Three Corporate
Cheers For Recessions
The Economic Case For
Fairer Income Distribution
A Message To The
Terminally Timid
The Way It Has To Be?
The Mistake They Always Make
China Eats Our Solar Lunch
Get Me An Invite
To The Borrowers' Ball
Big, Bad Rahm
The Third Way Tax Break Poem
The GOP Candidate Financing Poem
A Kabul Bank Investor Speaks
Dead In The Water
The Rich Outsider Candidate Song
More Political
And Economic Haiku
The Problem With Liz Warren
Kubla Kahn
A Farewell Note To
The Stock Market
Free Speech
Guns, Butter, Penury
This Land Is Made
For Them Who's Got
A Lib'ral Tax Pitch
Hunting The Elusive 
Low Wage Haven
Sovereign Debt
Wall Street Back
On Spending Track
Old Man Oil
Reform Legislation
Oh Euro, My Euro -
2010, Oh my Euro, what have you come to?
He Walked To Work
At Goldman Sachs
K Street Remembers
And Rewards
A Prayer To Become
A Hedge Fund Manager 
Three Foreign Policy Questions
A Not So Loyal Opposition
Make Tim Geithner Go
Stab In The Back
Who Can We Trust?
A Meditation
On Real Money
None Dare Call It Reform
The Ultimate Cop Out
Investment Bankers'
Make Their Case
Tall Paul
Song Of The Ticketed Motorist
Farewell To Credit Cards
I Saw Timmy Dissing
Goldman Sachs
Home Payments Deranged
A Merchant's
Black Friday Carol
In Praise Of A
Wall Street Transaction Tax
The Ballad Of
Hamid Karzai
White House, Spare Our Comp
Returning To
The Trough
A foreign policy note on
Iraq and Afghanistan
In Sam We Hope
We Can Trust
The Age Of Austerity
Johnny Begins
To Trade Again
The Talking Dollar Poem
A Man And His Tent
A Wall Street Love Poem
A Jobless Recovery Lament - In the style of Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!"
Recovery
Joy To The Earth,
A Stock Boom Reigns!
A Goldman Sachs Wish
The Economic
Bounce That Isn’t
Zombie Banks
The Dreaded Double Dip
High Tide
The Parking Meter
Ben And Timmy
At The Bat
California Stops Dreaming
A Dollar Forecast
The Prole Pacification Poem
Barack, I Really
Need A Change
The King Of Expectations
The Stock Market
Reality Show
Some New
Market Limericks
The Local Taxing Lurker
A Banker's Lot Is
Not A Happy One
Father Dollar
The Battle Hymn
Of Ben Bernanke
The Magic Circle—Broken
The Bernie Madoff Saga
(Continued) 
Aging's New
Financial Angst
Wall Streeters'
New Job Training
Wall Street Bankers Are
Called To Account (Sort Of)
The Bill Collector Blues
A Currency Race
To The Bottom
War Employment

Bernie Madoff,
The Lawyers' Friend

Wall Street's
Current Lexicon

Feeding Time At
The Federal Trough
Singing Bush Out Of Office
The Battle-Hymn of
The Stock Trader
Soak The Rich!
Too Small Not To Fail
Yea Though Your
Assets Took A Shearing

Uncle Sam's Master Plan
The Food Bank Poem
The Market Lemming Run
Sharing Wealth
Bush's Legacy—Revised
A Telegram To Be
Sent To Washington
The Bad Bank Poem
Frightened Little Men (Again)
The Inflation Cure
John McCain Picks
A Running Mate
Washington's Moves To
Reform Wall Street
A Party Comparison
The Bush Flip
Flops Explained
Tried and True Inflation Cure
Financial Nilism
Bush's Legacy—Revised
The Bad Bank Poem
A Telegram To Be
Sent To Washington
Freddie and Fannie
The Tale Of The Toggle
Distressed Debt
Frightened Little Men
Return Of The Liberal?
No More Here From There
(A Small Town Resident's Complaint)
In Praise Of Gas Taxes
My Joe Lieberman Nightmare
The Inheritance
The Numbers Fudging Poem
Uncle Sam
The Garbage Man
Policy Limericks 1968 and 2008
Driven To The Brink
Of Public Transportation
Enter The Vulture
A Wall Streeter Explains The Way Markets Were Run Up Until The Bottom Fell Out—And the Consequences That Followed
Shopped Then Dropped
George Bush Endorses John McCain
Food: The New Luxury Item
Election (Under)Coverage
American Peon
Personal Data
Uncle Sam’s Money Tree
Needed: Hugger-in-Chief
The Federal Budget Poem
An Option Withers
Like A Rose
The Dems Will Drive You Bats
America’s Workers
Become More Productive
Wall Street
The Coalition Of The Shrinking
The Shaven
Stagflation Redux?
Pain At The Bottom,
Cream At The Top
Father Dollar
The Right Payroll Priorities
Cash, Cash, Wonderful Cash
A Credit Score Heavy To His Love
Debt Rictus
(A heroic debtor’s last hurrah)
moveon, speaksout, demslose
A Hecka Of A Trifecta
The Great Stock Plunge
The Hillary Poem
A NOTA Limerick
August in Baghdad
The Last One Out The Door
Bush & Cheney Impeachment Poem
Bloomberg For President?
Bernanke At The Bat
Stopping By Polls On Election Evening
(With apologies to Robert Frost)
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, updated
The M&A Name Game
The Measure Of George Bush
Putting Limits On CEO Pay
A Tip For Republicans In Congress
Sporing Time For Neocons
The Frat Boy's Legacy
George Bush's Six Years In Baghdad
Guns, Butter, Penury
George & Hugo
My TV Week In
The Bleary Eyed
The Cluelessdoof Song
Bernie For President
A Republican’s Plea To The New
Democratic Majority In Congress
Home On The CEO’s Range
New Year’s Limericks
American Shopper
A James Baker Lament
Predictions for 2007
(and beyond)
Will Shakespeare focusing
on financial markets
Mr. Nobody Meets With
Mr. No One In Amman
The Coming Stock
Market Bubble Burst
Iraq Blaming
A Black Friday Sonnet
Big Tent Dems
 
Longer Term Oil Fears
Gay Marriage Poem
Diebold!
World Reality, Market Dreams
Nation Building Game
October Surprise
A Limerick Look At The Stock Market
Torture Now?
A Public Service Clan
A Passionate Congressman To His Constituents
Oh Pluto, My Pluto
Wal-martyred
The Week In Limericks
Sumertime TV
The Rich Have Suffered Long Enough
Condi Goes Forth To Save Lebanon
A Bummer Summer
She Comes To Work At
Dawn’s First Light
Identity Theft
The Higher Rates Poem
Haiku For The Financially Perplexed
America’s Workers Become
More Productive
Bush and Blair Confer About Iraq
Markets And Governments
The NPR Begging Chant
Convictus
The Wonderful Cash Poem
American Politics (In 12 Words)
Commentaries—in verse
How Not To Play The Gold Market
K Street
The Tax-Free Nation Poem
Lacking The Knack In Iraq
Mother’s Milk (The K Street Poem)
The Iraq Contractor Poem
The Eavesdrop Without A Warrant Poem
You’re Never Too Old To Go Back To Work
A Model Central Banker
incumbency
Credit Card Poem
King George
Debt, Debt, Debt, Debt
Corporate Warriors
Credit Cards May Soon Make You Frown
The GM Poem
A Merchant’s Black Friday Carol
My Record Trade Gap Dream
The Bush Economic Legacy
Energy’s Silver Lining
Supreme Court Angst
Wall Street
The Values Poem
Pity The Poor Health Insurer
Iraq: A Shareholder’s Queries
The Buck Stops Somewhere Else
The Oil Sag
Naming The New Politics
Global Economics
Yahoo Nation!
Captain Pork
Bush And Clinton, Bush And Clinton, Bush...
The Reformed Financial Felon Poem
Financial Tanka
The Ten Beltway Commandments
The Sweet Crude Polka
Mary’s Simple Credit Plan
Man, God, And Trickle Down Health Costs
Cheaper At The Core
Squeeze
Inscrutable Trade Policies
The Debt Song of The Potomac
The Battle Hymn Of The Bond Trader
The VAT Song
The Too Big To Fail Poem
A Wall Street Love Poem
Offshore Tax Shelters
New Limericks
When oil prices start to spiral
Airline Pillow Talk
The New Debtors’ Song
The Personal Privacy Poem
The Spitzer Blitz
Medicare Drug Poem
Dollar Dissing In Davos
The Screw Deal
The Market Reality Show
An Elegy For Airlines
The Baggage Build Up Poem
Overpay
O Euro, My Euro!
A Selfish Oil Investor’s Poem
The Payback Poem
The Great Gold Sell Out
The State Of The Economy Poem
The Presidential Visit Poem
The Saving Social Security Poem
The New IRS Helper Poem
The Food Bank Poem
The Traction Poem
Adversion
An Investor’s Politically Incorrect Truth
The Credit Card Poem
Government Funded Drug Ad Poem
The United Airlines’
Get-Out-Of-Debt-Free Poem
Experts Predict An Economic Boom (That Wasn’t)
A Crude Brood
Beating Inflation By Ignoring It
Pay to Play
The Sideways Shuffle
Summertime In The Markets
The Economist’s Song
The Think Tank Song
Wall Street Tidbits
One Tough Market
Beating Inflation The Core Rate Way
The CEO Fight Song
Stopping By My Broker On A Tuesday Morning
Promises, Promises.....
Shall I Declare Thee
The Tax Lurker
The Bankruptcy Song
Pothole Economics
Greenspan And Social Security
The Problem With Economists
Parmalat
William Blake On The Fall Of The U.S. Dollar
An Investor’s Prayer
Market Timing
The Minimum Wage Poem
Enough With The Stuff
The Gold Question
Nickels and Dimes
Commuting Angst
The Iraq Contractors Gold Rush Poem
Some Comments On
The New Twenty Dollar Bill
The Magic Circle
Preparing For An October Surprise
A Jobless Recovery
On The Differences Between
Personal And Government Debt
A Prayer For Corporate Board Membership
In Praise of Small Favors From Sam
On Record U.S. Trade Deficits
Watching The Jobs Drift Overseas
Welcome Back, Little Guy
(A Bigger Fool Poem)
A Summer Stock Market Rally Poem
Expectation Men
There’s No Place Like Home
Save Martha!
Work, Work, Work, Work.
Convertible Season In The Tech Market
Oh, Please...
Deflation—The Poem
Health Insurance Angst—The Poem
An Elegy For Airlines
The 6 Percent Solution
Shall I Declare Thee - in the style of Shakespeare
War Investing—A Confession In Verse
Iraqi War Market Haiku
Lies, Damn Lies, And Lies to Older Workers
New Limericks
A World Economy Rundown—In Verse
Redictus
Through Bankruptcy, She’s Free From Debt- in the style of Lord Byron
The President And I Discuss The Market—A Poem
Market Meltdown Fears—The Poem
Dead In The Water
Good Times A’Coming
The Gold Question
Market Nursery Rhymes
The Pension Fund Fandango
A Black Friday Sonnet
Ode To Cheap Labor
Ready Cash - in the style of Rudyard Kipling
The Fed’s At The Spigot - in biblical-style
Analysts, Spare My Stock - in the style of George Pope Morris
If Oil Prices Start to Spiral - in the style of Oliver Goldsmith
Race To The Bottom (Dollar, Euro, Yen)
Jubilee! - in the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Wall Street tidbits - in the style of Shakespeare
A 2002 Financial Calendar in Verse
Written In September - in the style of William Wordsworth
A Puzzlement
Broke, Broke, Broke - in the style of Alfred Lord Tennyson
Haikus
Time And Gain - in the style of Andrew Marvell
The Dreaded Double Dip
The Masters Of The Game & On Bankruptcy
The Meltdown Blues- in the style of Alfred Noyes
The Dead Dog Bounce
The ‘90’s Market Hero - in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan
Who Do You Trust?- in the style of Ogden Nash
Smitten At a Hamptons Lawn Party
I Don’t Despair When Stocks Go Bust- in the style of Alfred Lord Tennyson
When I Was A Grad - in the style of Gilbert & Sullivan
Stock Fever - in the style of John Masefield
I Have Seen Great Companies’ Fortunes Sunk - in the style of William Shakespeare
Casadebonkers - in the style of Felicia Dorothea Hemans
The Tight Market Leveler - in the style of James Shirley
Nasdaq Off The Mat - in the style of Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Ode To Penny Stocks- in the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
On The Reef Of Enron’s Woes - in the style of Carman Bliss
The Ballad Of A Now Defunct Enron - in the style of Lawrence Durrell
Congress, Cut My Tax! - in the style of John Pope Morris
Down Where Day Traders Play - in the style of Arthur Chapman
The Battle-Hymn of The Stock Trader - in the style of Julia Ward Howe
The Auditors’ Song - in the style of "The Tarrier’s Song"
A Friend To Sam - in the style of Sam Walter Foss
Investus - in the style of William Ernest Henley
Those Old Golden Ducats - in the style of Samuel Woodworth
There’s No Place Like Home - in the style of John Howard Payne
I Remember, I Remember - in the style of Thomas Hood.
For Every Market Strategy There’s A Season - in the style of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Alan Greenspan - in the style of Edwin Arlington Robinson
Boom and Bust - in the style of Charles Kingsley
To A Venture Capitalist Who Got Out Too Late - in the style of A.E. Housman
Irwin Kahn - in the style of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Home Alone - in the style of Alexander Pope
Profit From Chaos - in the style of Robert Herrick
More Wall Street Poet Limmericks
September 1, 2001 - in the style of William H. Auden
Original "Currency" Limmericks
What I Most Dread, Dear Client - in the style of Christina Rossetti
Before The Opening Gong - in the style of Algernon Charles Swinburne
Alka-Seltzer - in the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Keeping The Faith - in the style of William Cowper
Smitten At a Hamptons, L.I. Lawn Party - in the style of John Clare
World Recession Fears - in the style of Alfred Noyes
The Plight Of The Charge Brigade - in the style of Alfred Lord Tennyson
Wall Street Poet Haikus
If I Could Keep One Client Happy - in the style of Emily Dickinson
The Ten Market Commandments - in the style of Sir Arthur Hugh Clough
The Analysts’ Song - in the style of "The Tarrier’s Song"
Honey, I’m Off To The Futures Pits - in the style of Richard Lovelace
Myron Ben Byron - in the style of Leigh Hunt
Say Not Your Gold Fund - in the style of Sir Arthur Hugh Clough
Don’t Buck The Fed - in the style of Lord Byron
"Fed" and "Mob" - in the style of Carl Sandburg
Song to the Poor Tax Payer - in the style of Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Why Do Investors Ignore Inflation" and "Say Not Your Gold Fund" - in the style of Carl Sandburg and Arthur Hugh Clough
"Nashing The Chairman, A Millay Market (Burned At Both Ends)"and "On Lambs Following A Shepherd Down A Hole" - in the style of Ogden Nash, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sarah Josepha Hale
Faded Financial Cherry Blossoms - a Haiku
Composed When the Nasdaq First Hit 5,000
(March 7, 2000) - In the style of William Wordsworth
Greed and Fear - In the style of Robert Frost
Hedging Our Bet on a Risky Merger - In the style of Robert Frost
"Where Went My Money?" and "Market Preferences" - In the style of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Arlo Guthrie
The Next Recession - In the style of William Butler Yeats
The Guru Men - In the style of T.S. Eliot
Torpedoed - Edna St. Vincent Millay
Do Not Just Grumble ‘Bout The Market’s Plight - In the style of Dylan Thomas
FASB, Change No Regs! - In the style of George Pope Morris
Where Went The Nasdaq? - In the style of Elizabeth Browning
The Arb - In the style of Ogden Nash
The Bleary Eyed - In the style of Vachel Lindsay
She Walks To Work At Goldman Sachs - In the style of Lord Byron
When I Was Up A’Plenty - In the style of A.E. Housman
The Vulture Funds - In the style of Alfred Noyes
Georgie Soros - In the style of Edwin Arlington Robinson
I Owned A Penny Stock - In the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 
Wall Street Poet
  
Fifteen Feet Bneath Manhattan rat The Bellman's Revenge by Michael Silverstein The Chronicles Of Selig Cartwright, Goldman Sachs Washroom Attendant: Volume I ©2012
Poem of the Week

Past Satirical Verse

Books by
Michael Silverstein
Guest Poems

Wall Street Poet Blog

Financial Essays
Reviews of Silverstein's
Financial Verse

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The Wall Street's Poet's Best

Want to enjoy the very best work of Michael Silverstein, the Wall Street Poet? Check out this collection, Street Verse: 80 New Poems for Befuddled Investors [Paperback]. It's available new on Amazon from Silverwood Publishing (that's me) for $7.50 plus shipping. Just hit this link buy Street Verse, and you'll see this bargain-priced but brand new book. Buy it anywhere else and the Poet gets zilch.

It's a fun book, cunningly illustrated by Kay Wood. You'll enjoy it!

Best,
Mike Silverstein
The Wall Street Poet

© 2012 Michael Silverstein. ©2012 Kay Wood for site design and illustration. All rights reserved. About Kay Wood's art