What’s
an avocado worth—
an avocado sitting among
a twentyone
of its bruised
brethren
in a crate you’ve
used
for the last six months
to transport excess
to the barter
market
behind
the permanent stalls
on the ball courts
south of El Santuario
How
do you estimate the value
of an armload of flatleaf
parsley
or cilantro
exquisite plant
neurologies in tact
& bearing
bits of loam
& yet-potent dung
Who can calculate
the relative value
of lake carp
smoked
in a shore-side camp
or corundas
stuffed with June beans
&
shredded pork
& smothered in clotted cream
just regaining their lungs
in earthenware pots
Is it fair to trade
a seedling
palm
for a cast-off
leather sole
branded on both sides
with the image of the holy Mother
& toddler Christ
Are you blessed
if you exchange an elbow-deep
stack of blue tortillas
for a dozen juice oranges
or a short braid
of stunted garlic
teeth
Are
you victorious
if a crowd gathers
before your gorditas
such perfect fatness
& that each bag
might fetch a threadbare serape
or fistful
of nearly radiant
carrots
Are
you
heralded
if you reappear at home
with a sack of red
fingerling potatoes
bruised field
knuckles
having left the last
of your duck eggs
in an elder’s
phosphorescent
pail
&
will you return the next time
or the next
if you cannot incite pity or
interest or laughter
&
your already rotting chard
melts to nothing
there
under the severity of a long morning sun