@markmorrisjr came up with a fabulous idea, issuing this writing challenge, "flash" writing (fiction or poetry) of between 200-1000 words, to be based on the following image:
Here is my roughly 210-word poem, in response to this challenge:
The Banker and the Bulova
The watch he had purchased with ledger-line debt
began ticking backward; his younger self met.
For June stocks arising, a system he cracked;
he bought them with info he earlier lacked.
The banker in June was transacting with May
his hindsight drew interest without that delay.
This system worked fine for as long as the vault
held gold-backed deposits avoiding default.
But when pools of past assets began to run dry,
he gave up on May to siphon July.
His brain held the prices of bullion ingrained
he'd sell current silver if prices had gained.
He managed to locate a '65 dime,
but his Bulova ticked only backward in time.
Frustrated, he watched as his watch only went
back to previous ledgers he'd already spent.
How could he steal from the future lots left
unprotected from interested time-travel theft?
There must be a way, there must be a scheme
that could add to his coffers additional "steem."
He decided to print up a debt-based receipt
that could reach into future vaults there to deplete
all the stores of new wealth that his kids would produce.
A flawed form of currency he would unloose.
But that which he saw as a financial sluice
became, for his children, a financial noose.