You want it all.
The lakes and tar sands
Fresh water and fish
Arctic diamonds
Pipelines that confine
The caribou
And make the hunt ridiculous.
Forests for the churning
Of lusty, gossip press
And row houses
Like card houses
In six figure excess.
You set the price
You peg the share return
You fudge prospectus
Upon contingent prospectus.
You eyeball Brazil’s rubber
Argentina’s beef
And the yen’s stability.
Look for bottom line
In a bombshell.
You feed the college factories
With student debt
And prevarication.
You ruin IT marvels of innovation
With the barbs of bribed analysts.
You forestall needful medicines.
Your food franchises gorge your towns
And starve your staffs.
You stuff the sanctuaries
With hype and lifestyle
And trendy powerless slogans.
And dandle politicians
Like Punch and Judy.
But no one is laughing.
Moving jobs like pawns off-shore.
Buying justice by the pound.
You are the ravening
And the implacable.
You kill this place
In increments.
Chanting with pounded fist
“Business is business”.
And the odd one of us
Builds a cabin in the bush
And marvels at the night music
And lights.