No Logo: Poem Review

In a
factory,
a girl’s
bones
stick out
through
her
brown
flesh
like
shards
of glass,
as she
hunches
over,
as she
gazes
down,
seven
days a
week,
for cents
an hour,
sewing
brand
merchandise
that will
eventually
fill up
luxury
condominiums
and office
buildings

Overseas,
in a town
owned by
outside
corporations,
two workers
nap under a
mirror of
gnarled
machinery
so they can
complete a
shipment on
time;
in three years
they
will be replaced
when they turn
nineteen and
twenty three
for younger
women
without
fetuses
in their
wombs

In shantytowns,
rows of
roofs
rust
through
the oily
dead of
air,
and
trees
lean
over,
their
limbs
curled
beneath
the
sky;
soon
all the bark
will peel
back
into
white
skeletal
dust and
space,
before
the last
motes
settle

In gated
communities
equipped with
security
cameras
guard
dogs
walkie-talkies
whistles
pepper spray
tasers
and
electronic
key codes
that change
every week,
sprinklers
will
spray over
identical
lawns at
dawn
until the
grass
glistens
like fallen
crystals

In a
a suburb
shaded by
trees,
a boy jumps
higher
in his new
designer
shorts and
shoes and
shirt and
headband,
scoring a
basket off
the backboard,
while his father
works at an
international
bank,
approving
and denying
loans

A pop
superstar
smiles in a
commercial
for life
insurance,
his
recognizable
teeth
enhance
across
electronic
screens
in shops,
airports,
and
living
rooms;
an ad
flashes
with mild
side effects of
diarrhea depression fatigue
insomnia high blood pressure
paranoia irregular heartbeat;
regularly scheduled
programs
return
with words
from their
sponsors