BOTTLED WATER COMES FROM THE MOST DROUGHT-RIDDEN PLACES IN THE COUNTRY

by Steve Lavigne

“a state experiencing the third driest year on record . . .   this industry  has very successfully  turned a public resource into a private enterprise . . .  But still, the question remains: why Americans across the country  drink bottled water  from drought stricken  California”

—Julia Lurie, "Bottled Water Comes From the Most Drought-Ridden Places in the Country,"

Mother Jones, August 11, 2014

“a state

experiencing the third driest

year on record . . .  

this industry 

has very successfully 

turned a public resource

into a private enterprise . . . 

But still,

the question remains:

why Americans across the country 

drink bottled water 

from drought stricken 

California”

“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.” --John Maynard Keynes

my mother’s milk - bless her old teats
up for private speculation and public offering
flaccid wrinkled worn - and still unregulated
best to get them - the definition of insanity
while they’re still hot

the invisible hand of the market that moves
me
always was
and was not my father’s
hand
open palm of pain directing
the way toward some fictional future goodness
or goddamn quiet
the need in his mind like a thought
too loud to be drowned out only dimmed
down
by the light of a tv in a darkened room
or the screaming complaints of self-righteous
children
demanding its their turn to choose


Steve Lavigne runs a local poetry group in Champaign Illinois. It meets weekly to discuss, create and share poetry in order to build community through the power and practice of poetry.