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| Chinese state media reported breathlessly about a teenager from eastern China who sold his kidney for about $3500 to buy an iPad and an iPhone. --Time Magazine, July 2, 2012 (Photo source: iStock) |
Oh the shelf life of a kidney
and the shelf life of a phone;
Oh the trade-off of an organ
for an iPad all your own.
Oh bethink the youthful seller
lying harvested and sewn.
Oh bethink the wealthy buyer
under phenobarbitone.
Soon phased out is writ in small print.
Upgrades currently unknown.
This sale is firm and final.
It's forever. Not a loan.
Janice D. Soderling is a previous contributor to New Verse News. Recent work at Origami Poetry Project; Prose Poems Project; Able Muse; Rattle; J Journal: New Writing on Justice; Flash, The International Short-short Story Magazine; Right Hand Pointing; The Nervous Breakdown; Subtle Fiction; The Lascaux Review.
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