2003-11-22 - 11:08 a.m.
this reminded me of the idea that when you eat an orange you hold the entire cosmos in your hand. the wind the soil the rain and everybody who laboured to land this piece of fruit into your particular hand.
Focus in Real Time
A bowl of rice as food as politics
or metaphor
As something valuable and good
As something common
to consume
exploit
Ignore
Who grew these grains
Who owned the land
Who harvested the crop
Who converted these soft particles to money
Who kept the cash
Who shipped the consequences of the cash
Who else was going to eat the rice
Who else was going to convert the rice to cash
Who had designed the flowers on the outside of the bowl
Who would hold the bowl between her hands
Who would give the bowl away
Who could share the rice
Who could fill that bowl with rice
how many times a day
How many times a week
Who would adore the hands
that held the bowl
that held the rice
Who would adore the look
the smell
the steam of
Boiled rice in a bowl
Who will analyze the cash the rice becomes
Who will sit beside the bowl and fight for rice
Who will write about the hands that hold the bowl
Who will want to own the land
The bowl of rice
june jordan
