{"id":127253,"date":"2019-02-04T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=127253"},"modified":"2019-02-04T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T12:30:00","slug":"let-them-eat-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/02\/let-them-eat-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLet Them Eat Cake\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

When informed that her subjects–“the people”–were starving, that they had “no bread,” Queen Marie Antoinette is reputed to have answered blithely, “Let them eat cake!” [“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!”]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The people of Somalia are not like us.
\nTheir skin is black and gray and parched by sun.
\nThey carry their babies on bony hips,
\nWalking for miles for a little water.
\nEven their babies are resigned to death,
\nHollow-eyed, fly-covered, without the strength
\nTo cry, without the will to endure.<\/p>\n

We, on the other hand, are full of \u201clife!\u201d<\/em>
\nWe eat pizza and watch television.
\nWater magically appears at our fingers.
\nOur skin is bathed in emollients.
\nOur babies are full-throated and fat.
\nOur bodies are soft, and shaped like gourds.<\/p>\n

We drive everywhere in S.U.V.\u2019s.
\nWe vote for politicians who despise us.
\nWe are proud of our \u201cdemocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people of Somalia vote with their feet.
\nThey trudge the hot sands, looking for water.
\nThe soles of their feet are hard as tires.
\nThey know nothing of Global Warming,
\nPopulation over-shoot, Earth\u2019s carrying capacity.
\nTheir carrying capacity
\nIs a baby on each raw hip.<\/p>\n

The poor among us are deliberately <\/em>poor!
\nAnyone with gumption can make a million!
\nOur hard times will pass and we\u2019ll get back to normal:
\nProms and Christmases, first kisses,
\n\u201cChange\u201d we can believe in, reality TV.<\/p>\n

We die and we kill for \u201cinalienable\u201d rights:
\nHappy Meals, water at our fingers;
\nOur right to be oblivious; our right to
\nLife, liberty and a perennial mirage.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr. Gary Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/a> He <\/em>has published\/posted poems, articles, fiction and dramas at Transcend Media Service<\/a> and hundreds of publications and websites worldwide.\u00a0 He has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta.\u00a0 He edited the \u201cManifestations\u201d literary anthology.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 poetry collections, has taught in US public schools and prisons and in US and Japanese universities. <\/em>Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When informed that her subjects\u2013\u201cthe people\u201d\u2013were starving, that they had \u201cno bread,\u201d Queen Marie Antoinette is reputed to have answered blithely, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d [\u201cQu\u2019ils mangent de la brioche!\u201d]
\nThe people of Somalia are not like us.
\nTheir skin is black and gray and parched by sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}