The Rice and Tea

The Rice and Tea

The price of tea in China?

No less important today than when

The question was first asked.

Capitalized.

What has it to do?

The price of beans in Mexico? Apples?

Vodka in Russia? Apples?

Guns in America? Apples?

Exchanged.

Separated—freed from

Vast otherness, from

Pilloried witches, from

Selfless billionarism, from

Sustainable freedoms.

Bogeymen.

We consume our rights like

They consume their staples:

Orally, verbally, intensely:

Speech, assembly,

Jingoism, xenophobia,

Arm-bearingness:

Upward mobility:

Safety. Oil. Religion.

Strawmen.

United—bound to

Common myths, to

Oaths, love, and allegiance, to

Selfish entitlements, to

Neighbors’ fleeting freedoms.

Unaccounted.

Self-evident, indeed.

Like laziness. Like Apples.

Like imperialism. Like Apples.

Like violence. Like Apples.

Shared.

The price of tea in China

Is our excuse: why it matters.

Now, what was the question?

Consumed.

Answered.