New bargains every day
in our packed aisles, come on!
Trappist jams, lamps in the form
of buddhas, striped baskets,
ceramic bowls of potpourri
that will never scent a room
after the first five minutes.
All the gifts you buy friends
who thank you profusely
before stowing them in a closet
or taking them to the dump
the next week. The detritus
of busted capitalism, shops,
businesses gone belly up,
of sweatshops in Guam
making baskets for a nickel.
This is the bizarre bazaar
of knickknacks nobody truly
wants — bargains galore.
Everything you don’t need
at prices you can afford.
© Marge Piercy, 2005
Marge Piercy‘s latest novel is The Third Child. Her sixteenth book of poetry, Colors Passing Through Us, was published by Knopf in the spring. Leapfrog Books has released a CD of her political poems, Louder, I Can’t Hear You Yet, available online at <www.leapfrogpress.com>.