Sunday, April 1, 2012

1.

Expatronizing
I don’t have to compete with any of you 
Because I have removed myself.
Your brands, trends, Land's Ends, 
Cannot hope to trump my duds, woven by
Indigenous women who gossip in a language 
In which colors are verbs.

As you eat your Greek yogurt and drink your 
Shade-grown Guatemalan coffee bought at Starbucks,
I sip coffee that has been pooped out 
By a civet, and eat quesadillas made with cheese
Prepared by Benedictine nuns who wake up
At 4 to milk Trinity, the three-legged cow, 
Before the Office of Vigils. 

In your Hybrid you listen to Buena Vista Social Club
And pride yourself on how international 
and naughty you are (they're Cuban!), 
But I take a bus with no glass in the windows to work,
Accompanied by chickens and stoic children
And a live trio of drunk octogenarians who croon
"Hemingway delira" while miraculously maintaining 
Their balance as the bus dodges potholes, dogs and fallen palm fronds. 

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