Wednesday, August 20, 2014

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

“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.