I have an envelope in a drawer with $300 inside that represents a piece of writing I did a few years ago that's my favorite money because of what it represents. Divided by the number of hours I worked on the piece it probably represents minimum wage in a developing country but I'm proud of it nonetheless. Not because my writing is a capitalistic pursuit but that it's a validation I can quantify and touch. My job pays me to write but that's an automated transaction that's faded into invisibility from overuse. I heard a poet making a joke about spending half of their honorarium on gas to get to the next poetry reading.  The money I was once paid for a poem couldn't cover the cost of two drinks at the Four Seasons bar. But I don't mind that. Being a kind of shabby hero.  I can live with that.