Child Labor

child-labor

My wife brings home a jar of Nutella
From the Supermarket.
And each time you spread Nutella
You spread billions of acres of melanin
Of little boys who work in Cocoa plantations
On your conscience.

[And that thought suffices to keep you alive]

Knowing that something inside of you is eclipsed
By child-labor. When a little child who should
Be in school, is plucking cocoa fruits
To make jars of chocolate products.

And the melanin-wiped conscience
Will grope in the dark trying to escape
The stranglehold of chocolate.

Chocolate was supposed to indulge, to be a dark fantasy.
And not be a litmus test for your conscience.

Yet how acidic, how sour, is Child Labor
To the indicator strips
Of your innermost sanctum?

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)