street currency

apparently canadian tire
money has multiple uses.
take for instance the envelope
one can make to roll up
a block of hash in
like I just saw on
east hastings.

currency of two kinds,
it seems
became necessary in places where
traditional money
is practically elusive.

what to put in those hands,
those cupped, chapped fingers?
a coffee, a bite,
or the coins that buy
something, nothing, everything,
illicit or legal?

what to say to those hands,
those reaching, pained,
struggling, uncovered,
when all I want to be is
this jesus-like modern day
secularist on the streets
and can’t?

my currency I think goes
somewhere useful.
but all the measurable investments
mean little
when I encounter those
basics of the economy
where demand and supply
meet my  leering eyes
on the simplest dodging
method through their world.