Comments on Good Friday

This acrostic Telestich poem “Good Friday” was composed at Cassia Drive, Husbands Terrace, St. James South on the island of Barbados on October 8, 2010. At first glance, you’ll think the poem is about the religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, but it is not. The imagery of this short poem written in pentameter verses gives clues to a business management concept of budgeting, and uses the home environment as its launching pad as it were.

The word budget is derived from a French word for purse. Generally, a budget is a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is one’s plan for saving and spending the money earned or gifted. A budget is a very important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more commodities. A good definition for the term budget is the organizational plan stated in monetary terms.

What is the real purpose served by budgeting? There are two very important aspects to the budget plan: It provides a forecast of revenue and expenditure, that is, it constructs a model of how a business entity might perform financially, if certain strategies, events and plans are utilized. It actually enables the financial operations of the business to be measured against the forecast.

Do you believe households can benefit from personal budgeting? There are components from the business model of budgeting from which families and individuals can reap benefits. While budgeting is not the panacea for solving immediate financial problems, the wise management of one’s money will serve one well for years. Budgeting is worthwhile when considering the best use of one’s finances and one does not have to be a scrooge to do so.

Do you know which department prepares the United States Federal Budget, and who directs the Treasury to prepare the Budget for the United Kingdom? For sure, I know that the Ministry of Finance prepares the Budget for Barbados.

The poems “Good Friday” and “Treasures” which no doubt you have read by now, are written the form of the Acrostic Telestich. Here are some guidelines to help you compose your first Acrostic Telestich poem:

Firstly, make the decision as to what style you will write the Acrostic Telestich; whether in the traditional form or in Free Verse.

Select a title for the Acrostic Telestich, preferably a dual title is much better, but a single title could work as well. Let’s say you selected the title “Good Friday”. Select Good for the Acrostic side of the poem and Friday for the Telestich part of the poem. This procedure is shown on the map below, bearing in mind that the Telestich starts at the end of each line of verse with that word whose last letter ends with (f).

Good Friday

Acrostic Side .................... Telestich side
G………………..……………… f ...... (e.g. reef)
o………………..……………… r........ (prayer)
o………………..……………… i......... (kai)
d………………..………………d........ (deed)
………………………………... a......... (ameba)
……………………………… …y......... (theory)

If you decided on a single title for your Acrostic Telestich poem, for example ”Morning” the procedural map looks like this

Morning

Acrostic Side.............. Telestich Side
M………………..……..… m ....... (e.g. balm)
o………………………….. o ........ (e.g. ago)
r…………………………... r ........ (e.g. air)
n………………………….. n ........ (e.g. noon)
i…………………………... i ......... (e.g. kauri)
n…………………………..n ........ (e.g. fan)
g…………………………. g ......... (e.g. running)

Start composing the lines of verses for the poem, now that you know where the starting points are for the Acrostic and Telestich sides of the poem.

At the beginning of the first line of verse, begin with the first letter in the first word- title (in this example, the title is “Good Friday”) the first word-title is “Good” and the first letter is “G”. Continue on this line of verse until you reach the end point and use a word that has as its last letter “f” which is the first letter of the second word-title (in the example, the title is “Good Friday”) so the second word-title is “Friday”.

At the beginning of the second line of verse, begin with the second letter “o” from the first word-title; at the end of this same line of verse, use a word that has as its last letter “r” which is the second letter in the second word-title.

At the beginning of the third line of verse, begin with the third letter “o” from the first word-title; at the end of this same line of verse, use a word that has as its last letter “i” which is the third letter in the second word-title.

At the beginning of the fourth line of verse, begin with the fourth letter “d” from the first word-title, this completes the Acrostic segment of the poem; now focus on completing the Telestich second of the poet by going to the end of this same line of verse, use a word that has as its last letter “d” which is the fourth letter in the second word-title.

At the end of the fifth line of verse use a word that has as its last letter “a” which is the fifth letter in the second word-title.

At the end of the sixth line of verse use a word that has as its last letter “y” which is the sixth letter in the second word-title.

You can follow this procedure for any title you have for your Acrostic Telestich poem.

Read your completed poem aloud, check for errors and correct any errors found.