When do the things we consume
become the things that consume us?
When shopping sprees filled with glee
funded by theft and larceny
Allow orgies and feeding frenzies
to stuff ears and brains and bellies
When we consume gossip and calumny:
gorge on the carrion-flesh of broken families
Swallow lies, becoming mercenaries
trading conscience for guilty idolatry
Compulsive acquisition blinds us to iniquity
ignoring injustice, call it realpolitik
Then
The things we consume have indeed consumed us
We host the vulture’s banquet with bonhomie
False cheer in mortal fear of the final journey
The mirage of plenty revealed: merely
A cornucopia of paucity
Ayesha Kajee is a storyteller, poet and rights activist whose research on governance and democracy in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa has been published in various media. Her research interests include post-conflict transformation, socio-economic renewal and gender and environmental rights. She writes because she can’t not.