The New Food Brochures Are Here!

The brochures arrive every week
Tempting me
Trying me
Vexing me
They know that I am weak

New models all shiny and affordable
Adjusted for my comfort
Ergonomically designed
So it will mostly do good
Rather than hurt

The new food brochure
The market circular
Buy these apples!
Genetically enhanced to not go bad
Suspiciously a year after purchase

Like the famous McDonald's cheeseburger
Kept under glass
Checked on periodically
Until it must be burned in horror

Real food should rot
Real food should have an expiration date
This market doesn't seem to realize all that
They present me with plastic looking products

Expecting me to eat them

But they know me well after all
They collect my buying habits upon shopping cards
Piled in their databases
Crossed with other places

They'll know I'm pregnant before I do
And some diaper coupons will appear in the mail
Creeping me out
But I have no choice
So back to the superstore I will go

Perishable foods from the other side of the earth
Mysteriously available for pennies a pound
Where is the savings generated?
Where can the cost cutting be found?

Do children do the labor?
Grown ups paid little and kept poor?
Are they paid or in thrall?
Just kept in company housing
And calling themselves fortunate
To be alive at all?

It makes me want to take a stroll
Down the road to the farm that I know is there
I'll bet the farmer will take my money
The produce will be delicious
The price fair

So now my New Food Brochures
That I get so regularly
Are functionally replaced by browsing at the fruit stand
Their practicality proven on the floor of my bird's cage