Gran, 62, executed in US jail
There's a very rich man
who has put up billboards throughout the world
with the faces of the condemned upon them.
He has made people very angry.
My friend said:
I will never go into one of his shops again.
Yet I remember the faces
of those who formerly were just nameless statistics
of the gas chamber, the electric chair, the lethal injection.
What better use to make of his money
than to remind us of these abandoned,
the rejected,
the condemned?
Perhaps he might better have left his logo off the posters.
I have never shopped for his clothing
and I probably never will.
But every now and then
you can come across a capitalist
who manages not to forget
that he is also a human being.
I will remember his humanity
even as we take away his riches
and give them to the poor
with love.
February 26, 2000
Note: The title of this poem is taken from a newspaper headline
