A lot of my poetry works with irony in my previous work
anyway.
And I could not resist the opportunity
to write a poem in that mode.
When I started learning about the ways
that prisons are being capitalized upon to make money
for corporations that can charge for phones, and computer
access, and various things, and then
also can make money on the labor of people incarcerated.
There was a particular moment when
I discovered that Victoria's Secret had used prison labor
to create some of its products.
And learned about a company a government owned
agency called-- now called UNICOR
that basically facilitates the supply of incarcerated laborers
to industries that need workers.
So this poem is a two-parter.
It's called "Capitalism's Secret or Victoria and The UNICOR."
[LAUGHTER]
And there are two voices, and you'll--
hopefully, you'll be able to follow the extended metaphor
in part 1 and the snarky voice that I'm using in part 2.
"Capitalism's Secret or Victoria in The UNICOR."
Part 1, A bra binds, holds the body in place.
People put you in a bra by shaming you or giving you glam.
It's a sign of adulthood, but teens get
caught up in them all the time.
It becomes a uniform taken for granted.
The hooks and wires decked out in satin and lace,
the bra itself out of sight.
In professional, religious, and otherwise formal settings,
we might see a flash of color.
Just a reminder, the bra is there doing its job.
A bra is a structure that controls what it contains.
It hides and is hidden, covers and is covert.
It's costly.
Some folks look up and realize they've spent most
of their life inside a bra.
But it's not for everyone.
Part 2.
The secret's out.
Those jobs shop overseas to be done for cheap can repatriate.
Locate your call center in the US of A's finest prisons,
so you can go native speakers.
Why put rupees in the saffron scented pockets of strangers?
American Express wants to go there, maybe.
But you could do your business in a home away from home right
here in American soil.
The dirt is, we know what it takes to make a buck work.
Cut down on the commute, set up shop
at any one of our nationwide facilities convenient for you.