O Sunny Mao
'Twas a brilliant day in China,
and the sun was out in force –
patrolling the streets as if secret
police, out with the old and dust:
the new all over now.
Vendors, traders, profiteers, private
what once was public, what now?
Mercantile madness, madam, marches
made 'in China' so oft today; rolling off
Mao for Adam Smith on myriad
assembly lines renouncing in sarcastic
fervor – owning multiple pairs of jeans
minus dogma produced by the few now
shoddy, mass interpretation.
Oh they may smile in North Korea,
they may reminisce in Russia,
but in China as in Mudville
stoic standards have been stricken;
O Mao, does the sun still permeate your grave?
