Poem: Capitalism Q & A
if you need to know how much billionaires have made since the pandemic, the answer is $434 billion. if you’re not sure what $434 billion can buy, the answer is 51,666 yachts, 963 copies of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, or your soul, which is a small uninhabited island in your aorta. the yachts have full-size tennis courts, the painting is of Jesus holding a crystal orb, the island is where they filmed the last season of Survivor. if you ask what does one do with all that money, the answer is bury it in your yard or in your lung tissue. if you’re wondering what to do with $1200, the answer is not much. if you’re confused as to why your husband earned more on unemployment, the answer is why were they paying him in beans. if you’re not sure what kind of people wait in line for cans of beans, the answer is people you know. if it is unclear why the economy opened so soon, the answer is this was a health emergency until we learned it was about the black and brown and poor. if you’re wondering why billionaires are taking your money, the answer is they upgraded to the newest iPhone and they eat too much avocado toast. the answer is if they hadn’t bought Starbucks every morning, they could’ve saved something. if you ask how come the billionaires don’t save Flint, or homeless veterans, or prescription drug prices, or black lives, the answer is how do you think they became billionaires in the first place. if you’re wondering why we’re protesting in the street, the answer is those people didn’t have to die. if you’re wondering whether capitalism is patriotic, the answer is those people were going to die anyway.
Jean Prokott has poetry published or forthcoming in Arts & Letters, RHINO, and Red Wheelbarrow, among other journals, and is a recipient of the AWP Intro Journals Award. She holds an MFA from Minnesota State University Mankato, a Master's of Science in Education from Winona State University, and she teaches high school American Literature, Creative Writing, and Philosophy in Rochester.
This submission is part of a forum on race and policing in Rochester.
