FOCUS IN REAL-TIME
Poem for Margaret who passed the California Bar!
A Bowl of Rice
as food
as politics
or metaphor
as something valuable and good
or 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 would design the flowers for 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 or fight for rice
Who will write about the hands that hold the bowl
Who will want to own the land
A bowl of rice