A Picture is Worth a Thousand Bucks

Today’s prompt suggested taking a common proverb/saying and writing a poem which “argues against or somehow questions” it.

I decided to use the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I have been writing a blog post on the role of images on Gemini and the web, so the phrase popped into my head. It has always struck me as having a double meaning:(1) Pictures are a rich and narratively complex form, and (2) pictures are far more efficient at communicating than words. This, second, interpretation makes the phrase sound a bit capitalistic.

    The editor said
    That words were dead
    No click-through potential
    No incentive for ad-rentals
    Keep them short
    and snappy and fun
    Long-winded articles are for the birds
    A picture is worth a thousand words