Hidden Harvest

from a distance almost festive rippling in the morning breeze soft conversations great piles of scallions a pungent sun illuminates the faces of young girls she keeps grabbing them, straightening out their roots and tails in a little gesture of self-consciousness, she pulls her sweater away from her face knocks the dirt off, ties a rubber band around them Ejido San Quintin all are packed in ice and shipped to Great Britian __________ from a distance almost restive rising on the 20th floor clipped conversations great piles of papers a humming fax machine illuminates the faces of young girls they keep grabbing at her, straightening out her hands and fingers in a little gesture of self-consciousness, she pulls her sweater away from her face lifts it off the paper tray, sticks a sticky on it Ejido San Quintin all are packed in ice and shipped to Great Britian __________ from a distance almost resistive basking in the building’s fluorescent light algebraic conversations great piles of direct objects a deadened emotion illuminates the faces of young girls he keeps changing them, sorting out the nouns and verbs in a little gesture of trained-consciousness, he quickly minimizes the screen from his face knocks the dirt off, ties a rubber band around them Ejido San Quintin all are packed in ice and shipped to Great Britian __________ from a distance almost imperceptive breezing through the morning frequencies anxious reservations great piles of diners a poetry audience illuminates the faces of young girls she keeps grabbing them, straightening out their roots and social whereabouts in a non-literal gesture of class-consciousness, he pulls her sweater away from her face knocks the dirt off, ties a rubber band around them Ejido San Quintin all are packed in ice and shipped to Great Britian __________ from a distance almost assertive shuffling through the evening news moot conversations great piles of rotting vegetables a pungent spin-off literature illuminates the faces of young girls it keeps grabbing him, chopping up his roots and raison d’êtres in a tactically abstract solidarizing gesture of class-consciousness, she peels his self conscious piece away from her face knocks the dirt off, ties a rubber band around it Ejido San Quintin all are packed in ice and shipped to Great Britian _________ Ejido: A landholding community owned collectively by its members. In 1992, the Mexican congress (largely at the behest of Wall Street) passed legislation aimed at watering-down Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution (guaranteeing the fundamental economic and cultural rights of the ejidos), opening the way for the privatization and commercialization of the lands, thus rendering the peasants’ political gains (stemming from the Mexican Revolution of 1910- 1917) effectively moot.