Blueberry Jam
Today's challenge from NaPoWriMo was to write a parody or satire based on a famous poem. I chose the only Canadian poem I could immediately recall, Apple Jelly by Margaret Atwood. I had no desire to poke fun at this lovely poem. Instead I turned to bitter satire. Economics is draining from our food system the good things Atwood's poem evokes.
Blueberry Jam
No sense in all this picking,
mashing & simmering
if sheer food is all
you want; you can buy it cheaper
from California or Chile.
Why then do we burn
half a week’s grocery money
for a basket of wild Muskoka blueberries
cut vacation pay to get these tiny
glass pots of purple jam?
Hoarded for a year or two,
too precious to eat:
that August afternoon, your awkward brake
by the highway fruit stand,
skidding on gravel,
what we keep
the taste of local,
cost of dependency.
Blueberry Jam
No sense in all this picking,
mashing & simmering
if sheer food is all
you want; you can buy it cheaper
from California or Chile.
Why then do we burn
half a week’s grocery money
for a basket of wild Muskoka blueberries
cut vacation pay to get these tiny
glass pots of purple jam?
Hoarded for a year or two,
too precious to eat:
that August afternoon, your awkward brake
by the highway fruit stand,
skidding on gravel,
what we keep
the taste of local,
cost of dependency.