A Manager Mining in China
By Ian Haight

The women could be stealing.
I order stripping

them in front of male managers.
The government keeps my kickback papers

near the back-room office toilet.
I pay them to keep silent

about the bodies
the bodies

I hid in caves
and gullies. I pay

them to keep
silent about the fire, and me

saying
keep working.

My license is bigger than amputees
who now can only watch TV.

If this little gold
mine closes

everyone knows the workers
will earn

nothing for their homes.