Blueberry Jam

Today's challenge from NaPoWriMo was to write a parody or satire based on a famous poem. I chose the only Canadian poem I could immediately recall, Apple Jelly by Margaret Atwood. I had no desire to poke fun at this lovely poem. Instead I turned to bitter satire. Economics is draining from our food system the good things Atwood's poem evokes.

Blueberry Jam

No sense in all this picking,
mashing & simmering
if sheer food is all
you want; you can buy it cheaper
from California or Chile.

Why then do we burn
half a week’s grocery money
for a basket of wild Muskoka blueberries
cut vacation pay to get these tiny
glass pots of purple jam?

Hoarded for a year or two,
too precious to eat:
that August afternoon, your awkward brake
by the highway fruit stand,
skidding on gravel,
what we keep
the taste of local,
cost of dependency.