Ethical Shopping

When next you're in your local fashion store
To look at all the cheapish treats galore
Try not to puke, try not to think of poo,
All the clothes are made by slaves for you.

Nike, Adidas (and every other ugly name)
Should surely make you want to blush for shame;
Apart from lacking all aesthetic taste
Can't you see they stink like human waste?

They pay slave wages to kiddies slaving
And all you care about is money-saving;
Jesus wept, the world's an ugly, filthy place
Let junk clothes buyers writhe in sheer disgrace.

About This Poem

Style/Type: Structured: Western

Review Request Direction: How does this theme appeal to you?

Review Request Intensity: I appreciate moderate constructive criticism

Editing Stage: Editing - polished draft

About the Author

Region, Country: London, Culture Capital of the World

Favorite Poets: Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Chaucer, Shakespeare to name but a few. And VERY IMPORTANTLY: Erich Fried, a leftwing Austrian of Jewish ancestry who fled the Nazis and became a British citizen in 1949., And, other writers (non-poets mainly): Raymond Chandler, Irvine Welsh, Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Charles Bukowski, John le Carré, Anthony Horowitz, Mick Herron, Margaret Attwood, Edna O'Brian, Maeve Binchy., Writers who I find vastly over-rated: TS Eliot, Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Phil Larkin, E.A. Poe, A. Ginsburg, Longfellow, Gerald Manley Hopkins (actually I LOATHE Hopkins more than damson-dappled words can say).

Comments

Rula

5 years 4 months ago

This would

have made a sonnet had it a closing couplet, but I like it as is.
Well excuted and well chosen words for such a theme!

Gracy

5 years 4 months ago

Well said, Edna. It's true

Well said, Edna. It's true that it would make a good sonnet, but you've made your (and our) point well. Slavery has been going on since the world began. It's a disgrace, as you so deftly include, but I've no hope for humankind.
Best, Gracy

Edna Sweetlove

5 years 3 months ago

Now, let's not be silly!

1. China is now the #1 nation in the world: a huge population and a huge industrial output. Not slave labour - that's countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh where the poor slave away in appalling conditions to make the goods which fashion stores make millions out of selling to Westerm idiots out for a cheapo bargain.
2. China did NOT export Covid-19 - China made incredible sacrifices to try and limit its impact. It is solely the stupidity of Western leaders like Trump and Johnson (and the lunatic Bolsonaro, let's not forget him) which has allowed it to wreak such havoc. But there is always a silver lining..USA's C19 death toll will be up to 130K by end June and probably will hit 250K by end October. What chance has Trump of being elected against that?

Gracy

5 years 3 months ago

Hi again, Edna. Not sure

Hi again, Edna. Not sure about China not having slave labour. Maybe the workers have better conditions, but they have no say in any matters, they live under a dictatorship. But never mind, just quibbles of mine.
BTW, Bolsonaro now has C19. He's over 65, so in the dangerous category. I don't wish anybody dead, but I sure hope he suffers and changes his attitude. Boris changed a little, tho' not much.
I've already commented on your poem. I absolutely agree. Now, with this shutdown, I'm wearing clothes that are probably 20 years old, but new...It's complicated, because that means less jobs.
All the best, Gracy