So Drink to That

my neighbor

grows acres of grapes

but doesn't make the wine

i know you might think

the tradition is old world

but really how american is that

selling what you've learned to harvest

for the best price you can garner

on a mostly global market

stubborn persistence running

a distant mile or two ahead

of presidential intelligence

and on and on it goes until

empty dark bottles of the best

end up buried in landfills or

if we're lucky get recycled

to pour again

only despots and demigods

and their slavish serpentine servants

object to open buying and selling

they know fair trade to be

anathema to corruption

fatal like sunlight to the art

of doing deals best

accomplished in the dark

so drink to that

while you can

at least one time

next time

you raise a glass

it's how the rich get richer

and the poor stay poor

it’s a foundation of the country

a cornerstone of democracy

an essential building block

for commodities that break and  

endless rows of tract houses